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 […]