The government has announced a major review of historical carer’s allowance overpayments following the revelations of widespread administrative failings published in the Independent Review, led by Liz Sayce OBE. The review makes clear the Department for Works and Pensions (DWP) guidance on earnings was both wrong and confusing.
As a result of these failings it is estimated 144,000 family carers are repaying £251 million in overpayments, with total errors since 2019 estimated at £357. Impacted family carers face financial hardship, stress, and even criminal convictions after unknowingly breaching strict earnings limits. All of this was happening whilst the DWP had access to real-time earnings data but failed to alert carers when they exceeded the threshold.
Notably the situation was exacerbated by the “cliff-edge” rule, which meant that going over the limit by just 1p could trigger full repayment of the weekly allowance.
The Government has welcomed the report, and its recommendations to support the DWP to improve carers allowance and help make things simpler for family carers who are combining care and work. Their detailed response sets out how they are, or plan, to respond the each of the recommendations having accepted, or partially accepted 38 of the 40 reports recommendations. This includes
- All carer’s allowance overpayments since 2015 will be reassessed.
- Wrongly issued penalties will be cancelled or reduced.
- No compensation will be offered, despite calls from campaigners.
Suffolk Family Carers sees the publication of this review and the Governments response as a positive step, but stress the need for certainty and justice for those affected. We were pleased to see the allocation of £75 million in the budget to cover the cost of cancelling these existing debts or returning previously collected debts to family carers affect
