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Ten years ago my ex partner had a daughter by me. She refused to name me as the Father on the birth certificate. Our relationship since the birth has never been close. I suspect she may have been claiming single Mother benefits and not declaring my monthly payments from day one. Is there any way I can check she has been making
incorrect claims?
Hi there
Unfortunately, there's no way that you can check, as this information is confidential to her case with the benefits agencies and they won't share it with anyone else.
It might surprise you to know that mothers on benefits are allowed to receive maintenance on top of any benefits they receive, without it affecting their claim, so it wouldn't make any difference to the benefits agency to learn that she is receiving child maintenance.
This rule was introduced in 2010 I think, although I'm not totally sure of the date, if that's the case her benefits would have been affected for the three years before the rules were changed, but as I've said there's no way of knowing if she was or wasn't claiming incorrectly.
I've just checked and the rules changed in Apr 2010... see below, written by a Child Maintenance Options Consultant.
In the past if the receiving parent or their partner, was receiving Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance and in receipt of child maintenance, their benefits were reduced accordingly. However, on the 12 April 2010 the law on child maintenance changed. This change means that receiving parents who are on benefits can now keep all of the child maintenance they receive and it will not affect their benefits. In addition, receiving maintenance does not affect Council Tax Benefit, Housing Benefit or tax credits regardless of the amount. Any child maintenance received should still be declared to Jobcentre Plus, even though it does not affect the benefits you receive.
Just to let you know, I've deleted the duplicate post in the finance section, it can be confusing if there are two identical threads running simultaneously.
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