DWP Launches Major Review of Carer’s Allowance Cases
The Department for Work and Pensions has launched a comprehensive reassessment programme affecting hundreds of thousands of unpaid carers across the UK, following revelations of widespread administrative failings in the Carer’s Allowance system.
The decision follows an independent review which identified serious shortcomings in how the benefit has been administered, leaving many vulnerable carers facing substantial financial penalties and accumulated debts.
Reports emerged of carers receiving penalty demands reaching five-figure sums after inadvertently breaching earnings thresholds. Many affected individuals have described their treatment by departmental officials as heavy-handed, with some reporting they felt criminalised over administrative errors.
The Carer’s Allowance scandal has highlighted systemic problems within the benefits system, particularly affecting those who provide unpaid care whilst working part-time to supplement their income.
Welfare Secretary Liz Kendall acknowledged the scale of the problem, stating that the current administration has taken swift action by commissioning an independent investigation and implementing corrective measures for those who have been negatively impacted.
The reassessment programme represents one of the largest reviews of benefit cases in recent years and is expected to take several months to complete. The DWP has not yet provided detailed timescales for individual case reviews.
Carer’s Allowance provides £81.90 per week to those caring for someone at least 35 hours weekly, but recipients must earn less than £151 per week after deductions. Small breaches of this earnings limit have historically triggered significant overpayment recovery demands.
The reassessment will include:
- Government has said it will reassess cases dating back to 2015.
- Where averaging of earnings payments could have been lower, Government will repay or write off debt, including where money has been repaid in full.
- Carers UK’s evidence and dossier of over 100 carers’ experiences of overpayments feel vindicated
Helen Walker, Chief Executive of Carers UK said:
“It’s a landmark day today for the carers’ movement now that the Government has responded to the independent review of overpayments by Liz Sayce OBE.
“The move to reassess cases and repay or write off debt in certain circumstances is unprecedented in our view, a righting of a clear wrong. It is addressing this injustice head on.
“We have raised this scandal of overpayments since 2018, repeatedly highlighting a catalogue of issues faced by carers which caused huge emotional and financial distress and immense hardship for some.
“This Government acted quickly, agreeing to a visit with Carers UK and carers within weeks of coming to power for us to present our dossier of hundreds of carers’ experiences to Ministers and now has taken decisive action to redress many of the issues outlined.
“It’s absolutely right that the Government has taken the bold move of owning up to the mistakes of the DWP, which it largely inherited from the last Government.
Liz Sayce OBE, who led the Independent Review has really listened to us and to unpaid carers, and delivered an incredibly detailed report.
“We also want to pay tribute to the work that the Guardian and other media outlets have done in bringing this issue to public attention.
“Of course there will be an immense amount of detail to look through and digest, but we are hopeful that this can be the start of rebuilding carers’ trust in the system and that this is a positive indication that the door is open for further change – including longer-term reforms for Carer’s Allowance to ensure it better supports unpaid carers who balance paid work alongside their caring responsibilities.”
