Thousands of unpaid carers will continue to face potentially unfair benefit repayment demands as the government launches an audit of more than 200,000 historical carer’s allowance cases. Ministers admitted that existing overpayment recovery policies will remain in place while a full overhaul of the benefit is completed.
The reassessment exercise, which begins on Monday, is expected to cancel or reduce unlawful overpayments issued to an estimated 25,000 carers since 2015. The two-year, £75m initiative marks a significant step in the government’s attempt to address systemic injustices that left vulnerable carers with debts of up to £20,000 through no fault of their own.
However, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) confirmed that its business-as-usual recovery policies will be maintained during the overhaul, meaning penalties will continue to be imposed. It also remains unclear how ministers will compensate thousands more carers who were wrongly issued overpayment demands due to system faults linking universal credit and carer’s allowance, or after officials lost evidence of reported earnings changes.
According to a freedom of information request, about 22,500 carer’s allowance claimants were issued overpayments in the three months after an independent review was published. This includes a stockpile of overpayments rushed out to roughly 1,400 carers in January, even though officials knew the decisions were based on unlawful earnings-averaging guidance discontinued by the DWP in September.
The government acted after a Guardian investigation revealed that senior officials and Conservative ministers had ignored warnings about carers being unfairly pushed into debt and ill health, with some convicted of fraud. Liz Sayce, who authored the independent review, welcomed the reassessment exercise but expressed frustration at what she called “forces of resistance” within the DWP.
Welfare Secretary Pat McFadden said: “We inherited a system that left unpaid carers building up debt through no fault of their own, something we’re determined to put right.” Charities including Carers UK and the Carers Trust praised the government’s action but stressed the need for further reforms to restore trust in the system.
