UC - review

[ThisWiseDog]

Hi, looking for some advice please.

I have been asked to submit 4 months bank statements for a UC review and I am worried.

I am a single mum and i have 3 children. Their dad is an amazing father and very involved in his kids life. He sends me £420 a month for CM ( not official, we have agreed on the amount between us) He has also been sending me around £400 - £500 a month extra for a family holiday we have next year. I know this is going to look like alot of money being paid into my account.

I am paying my half for the holiday via direct debit each month, so these will be on my statements, I have been withdrawing his half towards the holiday and I was going to wait until I have his half to then put it in my bank and pay it to love holiday. I am thinking, it might be a good idea to go to the bank before i submit my statements and pay his holiday money into my account and pay it to love holidays. They may take my word for it, but i feel showing them will eliminate any doubt. It will explain the large payments in from him and my large withdraws.

I can show the holiday confirmation, we have 2 separate rooms and the total for the holiday is over 4k which explains the large payments from him. Do you think paying it in and paying Loveholidays is a good idea?

This month he has also given me an extra £300 for kids christmas presents. ( We always buy them joint presents. He does main presents... I do stocking, christmas eve boxes, santa trips, christmas food ect) So one month he has put in over £1,000.

He has a very good paying job and he is an amazing father. We coparent really well and i must say i don't know many people who coparent so well. I am just worried it is going to look like we are together. I live alone with my 3 children, i am on the only one on the bills and i brought a shared ownership property this July solely in my name.

Do i have anything to worry about?

Child maintenance is not counted as income for universal credit if guess he could document it has he referenced each payment and what it is for? Might be useful if he provides a written statement.

Thank you for your response.
No - he has not referenced which each payment is for but he does send me a text with a breakdown of the payment which i could provide proof of.

I might get a written statement from him so I have it to hand but only provide it if they ask.

They have asked for 4 months so will take me august - November. The holiday was booked in June, if that makes any difference.

What are your thoughts about paying the holiday money back into my account and making the payment to love holidays? In the last 4 months i have withdrawn around £1,500 for his holiday payments. As mentioned i was waiting for his half and was going to pay it all in once i had the total half.

Only things listed in Reg 66 of the 2013 UC regulations count as income.

As long as you can explain the transfers from your kid's Dad are not (eg) work income you should be fine.

I had a review recently and although not to quite the same extent, my mum sends me money every month for just a bit of support or to treat the children from her. I just explained who she was and what the money was for and they were fine. No questions about any of my outgoings

Thank you all for your advice. Anyone have an opinion on the holiday money, should I pay it into the bank and pay love holiday?

Total £1520 in the last 4 months ( all which I’ve withdrawn)

I’m curious - how were you going to pay love holiday in cash? I’m just trying to understand why you drew it out in the first place if you now have to pay it back in again to pay love holiday?

We are going half each on the holiday. I have a monthly DD with them to cover my half and he is getting me some each month.

I was withdrawing it so I could keep a count of how much he has paid. If I kept it in my bank, i didn’t want it to get mixed up with my bills/ monthly expenses.

so I was going to withdraw it every month and then when I have the total half, deposit it into the bank and then pay love holiday.

I could have paid it off straight anway but every additional payment you make they charge you an admin fee plus the amount we had both paid would then be mixed up. I was trying to avoid any extra costs and confusion between what I had paid/ he had paid.

I have the money, in full so it’s no problem for me to pay it back in and pay off love holiday.

CM is completely disregarded. When you have your phone interview, they will likely ask about the payments, but if you just tell them they're CM and extra to pay for your children's holiday from their dad, they'll take your word for it.

This happened with me where my dd, mil and fil all sent money to my account to help pay for family holiday. They just asked me what the money was for and who sent them and then just asked to confirm their account numbers as in they read one out and said amount and I told them who it was. They were fine

CM is disregarded but if he is sending money regularly (rather than a consistent amount monthly) outside of the official child maintenance payment I think they will ask about this. One of the UC criteria of "being part of a couple" is that you go on holiday together, and whilst it's not enough on its own to warrant this, the holiday + the extra payments (that you are withdrawing, rather than actually paying into the holiday account) might raise some eyebrows, so do be prepared for some possible questions.

I do expect questions and I’m more than happy to answer them. Just went to be prepared!

I considered paying the money back in and paying love holiday so they can see for themselves it has gone to a holiday as I understand it could be seen as suspicious