Hundreds of thousands of unpaid carers have been hit with devastating fines for minor breaches of carer allowance rules in the five years since senior welfare officials promised to fix scandal-hit benefits. This was revealed in an official audit.
Activists say the National Audit Office (NAO) report highlights the scale of misery and hardship inflicted on carers during this period, and the extent of the Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) failure to tackle the issue of overpayments. He said he is doing so.
More than 262,000 repayable overpayments totaling more than £325 million were recovered from carers who had almost unwittingly breached the Carer Allowance Regulations, while DWP civil servants took the case to the Crown Prosecution Service. 600 caregivers were prosecuted and had criminal records. .
Charities and MPs say the watchdog's report shows DWP's failure to adequately staff the carers' allowance department and address flaws in the design of the benefit system, which has resulted in thousands of carers being left behind. It said that the evidence shows that the defendants were exposed to financial hardship and emotional distress.
A Guardian investigation this year found that Conservative ministers had done little to stem the rise in overpayments for years, despite senior officials promising MPs in 2019 that new data-matching technology would eradicate the problem. It became clear that the device had been left unattended.
More than 134,500 unpaid carers are currently paying back more than £251 million in overpaid debts in breach of 'cliff edge' rules on income limits. A carer who earns £1 more than the £151 threshold in 52 weeks will have to repay £4,258.80 instead of £52.
The NAO report found that staffing levels in carer benefits processing departments were designed to meet internal financial savings targets, rather than to ensure that carers did not inadvertently overpay. It was revealed that there was.
As a result, only half of electronic alerts identifying potential benefit overpayments were investigated each year. The number of staff assigned to checking alarms and investigating incidents has been reduced by 14% over the past two years.
The DWP has repeatedly refused to accept that it is responsible for identifying all revenue breaches or alerting individuals to potential overpayments, which may legally impact their entitlement to carer allowance. The applicant argues that the obligation to notify of certain changes lies with the applicant.
On average, family carers, most of whom live in poverty, ended up repaying nearly £1,000 in income-related overpayments last year, but the Guardian reports that since April there have been two It has been revealed that the company was overpaid by more than £20,000, suggesting that the DWP had failed. We discovered the breach over a period of nearly five years.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: “It is astonishing that so many family carers have been caught up in a scandal of the DWP's own making.” This has caused misery and suffering on an astonishing scale. ”
Vivian Groom, a former unpaid carer, was charged with fraud and had her £16,000 inheritance left to her by her mother, who was unknowingly overpaid to the DWP and cared for by the DWP, but the DWP still remains a carer. He said he was tired of dragging people to court. .
“They need to stop,” she said. “I feel sorry for all the people who came after me and ended up losing their homes and cars.”
Helen Walker, chief executive of Carers UK, said the NAO report showed a “serious failure” of DWP action, resulting in “thousands of carers suffering many years of emotional distress and financial loss”. “We are going through difficult times,” he said.
Dominic Carter, director of policy and communications at Carers Trust, said: “This important report shows that too many people are being allowed to take on crushing debt because of our broken carer allowance system. It has been made clear that.”
Stephen Timms, Minister for Social Care and Disability, said: “This report highlights the scale of the challenge and calls for an independent review into overpayments to make the system fairer for thousands of selfless carers. It emphasizes the importance of
“Carers are entitled to support, which is why we are raising the income threshold, benefiting more than 60,000 people, while protecting carers from unreasonable debt and saving taxpayers cash. Our review will get to the root of the problem.”
The review, due to report next summer, will consider why carer allowance overpayments have gotten out of control, how to prevent them and how best to support carers who fall foul of the system.
