Mother of autistic son facing £10,000 debt after exceeding DWP rules by £1.92 weekly | Carers
The letter arrived three weeks after Christmas, and Gai Shahar and his wife Oksana exchanged looks of stunned disbelief. They had been following reports about a scandal linked to caregiver allowances that had left many families struggling with debts and criminal records. But they thought they were safe from it. Reading the letter, which was […]
DWP ‘blocked whistleblower giving evidence to carer’s allowance review’ | Civil service
The department for the labor pension has been accused of blocking an internal accused who has repeatedly issued an alarm to the independent review of the scandal hit, giving evidence of the caregiver's allowance. The DWP staff was told that it would be inappropriate to share knowledge about the inner structure of the system that […]
Hundreds of thousands hit by ruinous carer’s allowance penalties, audit shows | Carers
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 […]
More than a million unpaid UK carers living in poverty, research finds | Carers
More than one million unpaid carers looking after disabled, infirm or sick relatives in the UK are living in poverty, with one in ten experiencing extreme hardship that means they cannot afford to feed themselves or heat their home, a new survey has found. Campaigners said carers, regularly praised by politicians as unsung heroes who […]
Key workers quit jobs to avoid cash penalties for breaching carer’s allowance | Society
Teachers, NHS staff and other key workers juggling part-time work with caring for loved ones are quitting their jobs to avoid huge fines for breaching carer’s allowance rules, a survey has found. An investigation into the human impact of penalties has found that sanctions running up to thousands of pounds, caused by opaque rules and […]
‘No one would accept blame’: Carers highlight DWP failures over debt crisis | Society
Carers who have suffered overpayments of carer’s allowance ask the same question time and time again: they didn’t know they were breaching benefit rules, but welfare authorities did. Why were they not informed and the overpayments allowed to go unpaid for months, leaving them thousands of pounds in debt? In the case of the thousands […]
Ministers clawing back £251m from carers hit by DWP’s allowance failures | Carers
It has been revealed that ministers have recovered more than £250 million from unpaid carers over benefit breaches that occurred largely as a result of government failures. More than 134,000 people who care for a loved one are forced to pay back often huge carer allowance overpayments. In many cases, debts arise through no fault […]
Ex-ministers press Sunak on ‘persecution’ of carers who broke earnings rules | Carers
The “scandalous” prosecution of unpaid carers exposed by the Guardian must end now and an investigation must begin immediately, Rishi Sunak has been told. Three former Work and Pensions Secretaries and the Labor Party explain why they unknowingly breached earnings rules yet left thousands of people looking after loved ones being chased out for thousands […]
Why are so many carers being prosecuted by the UK government? | News
In 2010, George Henderson When filling out a “difficult” application for carer’s allowance, she mistakenly checked the box that said she was unemployed. He thought the Department for Work and Pensions was asking about his son John, who has a learning disability and is addicted to heroin. Checking that box changed Henderson’s life. He was […]
Fined £6,000 for tiny mistake: carer penalised for extra shift at supermarket | Carers
IIn the spring of 2018, Helen Grater’s world began to fall apart. Her partner, Mark Young, then 55, had been diagnosed with throat cancer. He also suffered from lung disease. He was dying and in dire need of her care. Ms Grater took unpaid leave from her low-paid job at Sainsbury’s and withdrew £64.80 a […]