Pressure is intensifying on senior officials at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) over their response to a devastating benefits scandal that has plunged hundreds of thousands of unpaid carers into significant debt.
Systemic Failures and a 'Misleading' Response
The crisis centres on the Carer’s Allowance, a benefit worth £83.30 per week for those providing at least 35 hours of care, provided their weekly earnings do not exceed £196. A critical flaw in the system means that if carers earn even a single penny over this limit, they must repay the entire week's allowance. Compounding this draconian rule, the DWP failed to alert carers when they breached the earnings threshold, despite having access to near real-time data.
This led to individuals unknowingly accumulating debts, sometimes exceeding £20,000, which the DWP then sought to recover years later, often under threat of criminal prosecution. A government-commissioned review, chaired by Prof Liz Sayce, delivered a scathing indictment of the department's handling of the issue, calling for an overhaul of its management and culture.
Officials Blame Carers, Eroding Trust
Days after the review's publication, Neil Couling, the DWP's top civil servant in charge of Carer’s Allowance, suggested that carers themselves were at fault for the decade-long failures. These comments, revealed by the Guardian, have sparked outrage and severely damaged confidence in the department's pledge to fix the problems.
Prof Sue Yeandle, the UK's leading expert on unpaid carers and an adviser to the Sayce review, stated that ministers and officials had made "really misleading" claims by downplaying the scale of the issue. Helen Walker, chief executive of Carers UK, emphasised the devastation: "This is not a small number of people. Its scale and the devastation caused to so many families cannot be over-estimated."
Yeandle expressed deep concern over the DWP's official response, noting it had only partially accepted 13 of the review's 40 recommendations and rejected two entirely. "The official response... don't give me much confidence that senior officials will now address these with the urgency and commitment needed," she said.
Calls for Apology, Compensation and Cultural Change
Following a Guardian investigation that exposed how vulnerable families were left with huge debts and criminal convictions, ministers last month pledged approximately £75 million to address the scandal. They ordered the reassessment of around 200,000 historical cases, with the DWP estimating that 26,000 carers may have debts cancelled or reduced—a figure experts believe is far too low.
Prof Yeandle argued that to rebuild trust, the government must issue an unreserved apology and consider compensation for those affected. "It’s left a terrible enduring legacy for some carers... Some debts built up over long periods, with carers not made aware of this by the DWP until years had passed," she stated.
Katy Styles of the We Care Campaign said systemic failings translate into "stress and financial insecurity" for carers and questioned whether the DWP's culture could change without clear political leadership. Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden distanced the department from Couling's comments, calling them "not the position" of the DWP and labelling the allowance issue a "longstanding problem that was ignored by the previous government."
A DWP spokesperson said: "We inherited a system that let carers down – but we’re taking decisive action to put things right and rebuild trust... We’re already making changes, hiring extra staff to stop carers building up large debts... and we will continue putting things right."
