DWP urged to launch urgent review as thousands forced to repay benefit

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is being urged to launch a review after thousands of carers have been forced to pay benefits back.

The benefits department has recently come under fire after it was revealed around 34,000 Carer’s Allowance claimants received fines of up to £20,000 and had to repay their benefits for earning pennies over the working threshold. Alongside this, The Guardian reports that the DWP has told carers that contesting a repayment could result in increased fines. The DWP has been accused of using “threatening and cruel” tactics against carers even if the mistakes were honest and genuine with a wave of MPs, charities, and other organizations having raised concerns.

Under the current rules for Carer’s Allowance, while claiming you can only earn £151 a week after tax, National Insurance, pension contributions and allowable expenses. If your earnings go over the limit – even by just 1p – you lose your entire entitlement. This policy has been criticized by some as a “cliff edge” tactic. If you are paid Carer’s Allowance weekly, and you go over the earnings limit, you lose your entitlement for the following week. When you are paid monthly, you lose your Carer’s Allowance for the following month.

The former Tory Work and Pensions Secretary Ian Duncan Smith has urged the DWP to “pause” the overpayment claim process and “very carefully” review the issue. He told the Guardian: “The best thing is for the DWP now to pause any of these demands, review carefully what was behind all of this to make sure this was not mistakes by DWP but is genuinely about individuals failing to notify the department.”

Have you been forced to repay Carer’s Allowance? Let us know: [email protected]

Yesterday, a key government advisor resigned over the DWP scandal. Johnny Timpson, sits on the Prime Minister’s dementia-friendly communities champion group and is a dementia advisor to Sunak. He was also previously a Cabinet Office disability ambassador. His announcement today came as he wanted to “take a stand” as he had been “quite disenchanted” with the Conservative government’s approach towards people with disabilities for some time.

He said: “The fact that we have made absolutely no progress at all on social care [and] we really did not support carers adequately during the pandemic. But this latest thing – the approach the DWP are taking to reclaim benefits from carers and people with disabilities, particularly with neurological disabilities – is beyond the pale for me really.”

This week, Carers UK launched a manifesto in which it demands Carer’s Allowance to increase by at least £11.10 a week and pull back the strict payment rules. Helen Walker, Chief Executive of Carers UK said it was time for the Government to “redefine its relationship with unpaid carers and deliver a social contract that they can rely on”.

She said: “They do so much saving the state billions and yet feel they get very little in return in terms of recognition and support. The fact that Carer’s Allowance is worth only £81.90 per week for a minimum of 35 hours care and is the lowest benefit of its kind speaks volumes. It’s unacceptable that carers are reaching breaking point and don’t receive the support they desperately need. The next Government must do more to help families so that 600 people a day don’t have to give up work to which

“We want political parties to set out their social contract with unpaid carers and commit to a funded, cross-government 10-year National Carers Strategy. We know that if unpaid carers were better supported it would benefit their lives – removing unnecessary pressure on their relationships, preventing poverty, improving their health and ensuring those who can, and want to, remain in work. We see investing in unpaid carers and care as a win: win, for families, society and the economy.”