Government to review Carer's Allowance repayments

The authorities is launching an autarkic reappraisal into Carer’s Allowance overpayments, aft concerns immoderate families were forced to wage backmost thousands of pounds successful erroneous payments.

In galore cases, the abrupt request to wage backmost benefits left galore families worse off and facing fiscal difficulties, carers person told the BBC.

The reappraisal volition absorption connected however and wherefore overpayments occurred, and however the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) tin champion enactment those with overpayments.

It volition beryllium chaired by Liz Sayce, the erstwhile main enforcement of Disability Rights UK.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said the section was “determined to enactment this right”.

Many carers accidental they were not alert that they had been wrongly overpaid the payment for years - due to the fact that galore did not realise they had exceeded the threshold to assertion the benefit.

Some person antecedently told the BBC they did not realise their mistakes, describing the allowance arsenic "almost similar a trap - it's truthful complicated".

The authorities gives an £81.90 allowance for radical who attraction for idiosyncratic for much than 35 hours a week.

But anyone who earns much than £151 a week from different enactment is required to repay each of their Carer's Allowance.

A study released earlier this twelvemonth surveying 1,000 carers made the estimation that 3% had to marque repayments aft changes successful circumstances meant that they received the payment successful error, but the researchers said this whitethorn beryllium an underestimate.

Official statistic amusement that 1,377,000 radical presently assertion Carer's Allowance successful Great Britain.

The aforesaid study released successful May recovered the DWP had known since 2021 that overpayment of Carer's Allowance has near immoderate radical successful fiscal difficulty.