References: The Injustice of Carer's Allowance Overpayments
By Carers UK, and The Guardian Newspaper Editors: Patrick Butler, Social Policy Editor and Josh Halliday North of England Editor
This post compiles key references and source materials for articles about Carer's Allowance Overpayments published by Carer Mentor: Empathy and Inspiration.
the people, organisations and charities who have raised awareness about the Carers Allowance overpayments.
chronological list of references, outlining the evolution of news and information as it was revealed to the public.
Key investigators and stakeholders who are working to raise awareness of the issues and impact of the Carers Allowance Overpayments.
The National Audit Office: “The National Audit Office (NAO) is the UK’s independent public spending watchdog. We support Parliament in holding the government to account and we help improve public services through our high-quality audits. We are independent of government and the civil service.”
Carers UK is the “leading national charity for unpaid carers. We support, advocate for, champion and connect carers across the UK, so that no one has to care alone.”
Emily Holzhausen, Director of Policy and Public Affairs Carers UK. CBE OBE Charity Director Emily Holzhausen awarded CBE in the King’s Birthday Honours list
The Guardian Newspaper Editors: Patrick Butler, Social Policy Editor and Josh Halliday North of England Editor
May 20, 2025 “Guardian journalists win Paul Foot award for carer’s allowance coverage. Patrick Butler and Josh Halliday honoured for their coverage of ‘enraging and heartbreaking’ DWP scandal”
The Guardian Newspaper: “Guardian Media Group is a global news organisation that delivers fearless, investigative journalism - giving a voice to the powerless and holding power to account. Our independent ownership structure means we are entirely free from political and commercial influence. Only our values determine the stories we choose to cover – relentlessly and courageously.”
Chronological list of references and source material:
2019 A National Audit Office (NAO) report in 2019 found that DWP staffing levels in the past were not adequate to deal with overpayments quickly enough. By National Audit Office
26 October 2022 Is worsening health leading to more older workers quitting work, driving up rates of economic inactivity? By Bee Boileau Jonathan Cribb.
We examine labour market trends for older people to see if poorer health is driving down employment rates and causing a rise in economic inactivity
Summary When looking at only the cross-sectional data, it is tempting to conclude that deteriorating health amongst the older population has been the key reason for higher levels of economic inactivity and lower levels of employment. A closer look at the data suggests that in fact there seem to be two distinct issues at stake: increasing levels of ill-health amongst the older non-working population (which is concerning as an issue in its own right), and increased levels of inactivity driven in large part by people leaving work for non-health related reasons – in particular because they have decided to retire.
18 May 2023 Why aren’t older people returning to work and what can firms do to tackle this?
As a parliamentary report into economic inactivity delves into the reasons the over 50s exit the labour market for good, Luke Price suggests ways businesses and government can encourage them back into employment. by Luke Price, Senior Research and Policy Manager at the Centre for Ageing Better,
24 May 2023 Why aren’t older workers returning to work? The reasons for the rise in older workers exiting the labour market are complex but there are solutions available.
The report highlights how the rise in economic inactivity is mostly driven by older workers retiring, many of whom are relatively financially secure and have no plans to return. It also digs down into the complex relationship between economic inactivity, health and age where poor health is not necessarily causing more older people to leave the labour market but remains a fundamental reason why people can struggle to re-engage with work. Caring responsibilities can make juggling work and personal commitments hard, meaning that some older people, especially older women, leave work and don’t return. More flexible working opportunities being offered by employers could help both retain current employees with caring responsibilities and entice those who are out of work to return.
March 21 2024 Unpaid carers in employment forced to reduce their working hours for the fifth consecutive year as Carer Poverty Coalition publishes its demands of government. By Carers UK
April 7 2024 Who are unpaid carers, and why have some had to repay large sums to UK government? By Patrick Butler, Social Policy Editor. The Guardian
April 7 2024 ‘DWP are the real criminals’: carer in tatters after ‘brutal’ fraud prosecution Vivienne Groom was threatened with a prison term despite a call-handler saying she did not need to declare her 16-hour a week job By Josh Halliday North of England Editor The Guardian
April 7 2024 Analysis: Why are so many carers being taken to court for benefit fraud? By Patrick Butler Social Policy Editor. The Guardian
April 22 2024 MPs call for carer’s allowance review as numbers overpaid soars. Figures show 34,500 people incurred overpayments last year after falling foul of rules, landing many with huge debts by Patrick Butler Social Policy Editor. The Guardian
April 24 2024 Two-thirds of carers with earnings-related overpayments of more than £2,500 could have had been notified sooner if the DWP had had sufficient staff in place. More recently, DWP stated in a response to a Parliamentary Question that only around half of the number of overpayments flagged by the Verified Earning and Pension (VEP) system had been reviewed by the DWP. By Questions Statements. The Parliament
April 25 2024 Hailed as a hero and then sacked: the carer’s allowance whistleblower Enrico La Rocca helped expose profound failures but less than a year later was dismissed by the DWP – and then later rehired by Patrick Butler Social Policy Editor. The Guardian
The Carers Allowance 2024/2025 Tax year, when the facts were revealed
On an assumption, you have the emotional capacity and can find a way for your loved one to be okay whilst you’re away.
IF you care for 35 hours, you’re eligible to get Carers Allowance (£81.90) and can work to receive up to £151.
IF you go over £151 (after tax expenses), you forfeit one hundred per cent of the £81.90.
BUT this ‘debt’ to the government’s Department of Work and Pensions stacks up over time because you’re not informed.
The carers who have large debts are pursued for prosecution
Carers Allowance and understanding the earnings limit
Known as the main benefit for carers, Carer’s Allowance is currently £83.30 per week (2025/26).
When looking to apply for Carer’s Allowance, you first need to check if you meet the conditions to claim it. One of the conditions that can cause a bit of confusion is the earnings limit. You need to ensure that you don’t earn more than £196 per week (from 7 April 2025).
May 9 2024 DWP’s unchecked database leaves tens of thousands of carers at risk of debt About 50% of earnings ‘alerts’ for carer’s allowance overpayments not looked at by staff, figures reveal by Patrick Butler Social Policy Editor. The Guardian
Tens of thousands of unpaid carers are at risk of debt and criminal prosecution because their cases are lying unchecked on a government “alert” database of people being overpaid benefits, according to new figures.
Officials are aware of the mounting number of instances where UK carers are at risk of racking up overpayments that can in some cases lead to crippling debt, but for the past five years have chosen not to investigate all cases..
May 27 2024 ‘No one would accept blame’: Carers highlight DWP failures over debt crisis Carers asked to repay sums as high as £20k say officials did not share eligibility information between departments By Patrick Butler Social Policy Editor. The Guardian
Ferguson was baffled: on his mother’s behalf, he had told the DWP about her hospital stay at the time, and (luckily) he had a letter from attendance allowance that confirmed her claim would be unchanged. The carer’s allowance unit was unmoved: as far as it was concerned, he hadn’t told them, so he had to repay the money.
He pointed out the two benefits were linked – he qualified for carer’s allowance only because his mother received attendance allowance. Was it not reasonable to expect the two DWP offices to share information – or even admit their own blunder had caused the overpayment?
“I realised they were basically asking me to compensate for their own systematic errors,” said Ferguson. “It was like the Post Office scandal. No one was willing to accept the blame for what was their mistake; it had to be the claimant who was at fault. I would end up being thrown under the bus as a fall guy.”
Ferguson challenged the overpayment at a Glasgow social security tribunal in March, and won. “It should never have got to a tribunal but the DWP was determined not to concede they were wrong. I thought they would have backed off well before they were made to look foolish in front of a judge,” he said.
July 2024. Carer's Allowance Overpayments. Carers UK’s report and recommendations By Carers UK
August 2024 Juggling work and care – a growing issue
An estimated 2.8 million carers in the UK who are in paid employment.
The UK economy increasingly relies on workers who also provide unpaid care to family and friends ('working carers'). Without adequate support, these carers struggle to balance work and care responsibilities, impacting their wellbeing and job retention. Society must evolve to better support this growing population of working carers.
There are nearly 2.5 million carers in employment (excluding full-time students)2 in England and Wales, according to the recent ONS Census 2021 – 9% of the total number of people in employment. Of those, 2 million are employees, and 445,000 are selfemployed. In Scotland, a further 268,000 carers are in employment (of which 234,000 are employees, and 34,000 are self-employed. In Northern Ireland, 125,000 carers are working either full-time (81,000) or part-time (44,000). Combined, over 2.8 million carers are juggling work and care across the UK.
August 22 ,2024 The future of care needs: a whole systems approach This new approach brings together action to improve paid care with support for unpaid carers and social networks. Written by: Abby Jitendra, Taha Bokhari
September 12 2024 DWP waives £1,300 penalty for unpaid carer threatened with fraud prosecution Clemency Jacques is one of 134,500 people repaying £251m in carer’s allowance overpayments By Patrick Butler Social Policy Editor. The Guardian
October 30, 2024 In the Autumn Budget 2024, the earnings limit for Carer's Allowance increased from £151 to £196 per week from April 2025, a rise of £45, “allowing” working carers to earn more without losing their benefit entitlement. This conveniently sidesteps the 'Cliffedge' of £151. This does not help carers being pursued for criminal prosecution By Carers UK
November 14, 2024 By Patrick Butler Social Policy Editor. The Guardian
November 2024, Valuing Carers 2021/22: the value of unpaid care in the UK, Dr Maria Petrillo, Dr Jingwen Zhang, Professor Matt Bennett.
This research report highlights the incredible increasing economic value of unpaid care across the four nations of the United Kingdom (UK). Unpaid carers in the UK are providing care worth an unbelievable £184.3 billion a year – an increase of 29.3% since 2011. To put these extraordinary numbers into perspective, the combined NHS budget across all four nations of the UK was approximately £189 billion - this means that unpaid carers are providing care equivalent to the budget of a second NHS in the UK. This value of unpaid care is also over four times the amount of publicly funded spending on adult social care services. People are providing more hours of unpaid care than ever before, and the contributions made by unpaid carers have increased across all Local Authorities, Trusts and Councils in the UK. If unpaid carers stopped providing care overnight, the health and social care systems in the UK would collapse.
This value was calculated based on NHS budgets for each nation for the year each Census was conducted - 2021 for England, Wales and Northern Ireland; 2022 for Scotland (for further details see to each individual Valuing Carers report
Petrillo, M and Bennett, M.R. (2023) Valuing Carers 2021: England and Wales. London: Carers UK. carersuk.org/media/2d5le03c/valuing-carers-report.pdf
Zhang, J., Petrillo, M. and Bennett, M.R. (2023) Valuing Carers 2021: Northern Ireland. Belfast: Carers Northern Ireland. carersuk.org/media/irkn5e00/valuing-carers-northern-ireland.pdf
Zhang, J., Petrillo, M. and Bennett, M.R. (2024) Valuing Carers 2022: Scotland. Glasgow: Carers Scotland
December 9 2024 Government press release: Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall earlier this year and led by Liz Sayce OBE - was established to investigate the reasons why overpayments have occurred for some carers as part of our mission to rebuild Britain and support working people. It follows concerns over reports of carers unknowingly accruing large amounts of overpayments of Carer’s Allowance, signalling the Government’s commitment to learn lessons and get to grips with the issues. Now the scale and scope of the review has been confirmed with the publication of its terms of reference. It will explore: How overpayments of Carer’s Allowance linked to earnings accrued and why this has happened, What changes can be made to reduce the risk of such overpayments accruing in future, What DWP can best do to support those who have already accrued overpayments"
December 11 2024 Hundreds of thousands hit by ruinous carer’s allowance penalties, audit shows. Campaigners say NAO report shows impact of DWP staffing decisions and failure to address flaws in benefit’s design Patrick Butler Social Policy Editor and Josh Halliday North of England Editor, The Guardian
2025
February 3 2025 DWP ‘blocked whistleblower (Enrico La Rocca) giving evidence to carer’s allowance review’ Staffer told by official it would be inappropriate for him to give evidence to review of scandal-hit benefit by Patrick Butler Social Policy Editor, The Guardian
"The DWP has now confirmed staff, including La Rocca, will be encouraged to submit evidence. A DWP spokesperson said: “We have always been clear that staff members can contribute to the review, and we have already reached out to invite staff to share their insight."
"The chair of the carer’s allowance independent review, the disability policy expert Liz Sayce, told the Guardian she wanted DWP staff to contribute. She said: “I’m really keen to hear from everybody who has evidence to give evidence. I want the review to get to the bottom of what happened.”"
February 12 2025 Unpaid carer wins overpayment penalty case against DWP Andrea Tucker has overturned the demand for £4,600 in carer’s allowance overpayments for alleged breaches in benefit rules by Patrick Butler Social Policy Editor, The Guardian
She presented figures to the tribunal showing in each of the following five years her average income, calculated retrospectively, kept within the rules. She would regularly work six hours a month for nothing to ensure she could fulfil her work contract while continuing to claim carer’s allowance.
The DWP contacted her in April 2024 to say she must repay £4,600 in accrued overpayments relating to 16 separate earnings breaches over the previous five years.
Helen Walker, chief executive of Carers UK, said: “Far too many carers are currently repaying debts that they should not have been given in the first place. If averaging rules were applied fairly and carers informed quickly when they potentially breached earnings limits, many would not be in this situation.”
A DWP spokesperson said: “This government is committed to supporting carers across the UK and we will carefully consider the tribunal’s written decision.
“We understand the struggles facing so many carers, which is why have launched an independent review of carer’s allowance which is exploring how earnings-related overpayments have occurred and what changes can be made.
“Alongside this, we have already taken action by boosting the carer’s allowance earning threshold – a move that will help more than 60,000 carers stay in work and keep much needed cash.”
March 3 2025. Social Care 360: People who need social care will suffer if the government repeats the funding mistakes of the past. By Simon Bottery and Danielle Jefferies The losers may well be people who draw on care services. If local authorities have to pay more to providers while struggling to balance their books, then they will ration services (and seek other savings elsewhere), however reluctantly. We could easily return to the trend from 2015/16 to 2021/22, when the demand for care services increased but receipt of long-term care fell. That would be a tragedy, and an avoidable one. It should be a key concern for the first phase of the government’s new commission on adult social care.
March 11 2025 By Victoria Via an online Carer’s Forum I read there was a petition to the government to Increase Carer's Allowance to equal the minimum wage. It required 1000 signatures but failed. The Government response, in my opinion, lacks understanding that carers constitute the invisible backbone of social care, providing continuity of communication and medical support that is often absent in today's UK medical system. Ironically, if unpaid family carers worked in a care agency, they’d be paid the minimum wage.
March 20, 2025 Carers UK Press Release. Carers UK and 109 organisations send a Letter to Rt. Hon. Liz Kendall MP Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: Thousands of carers receiving new debt letters as review into Carer’s Allowance overpayments continues
March 20, 2025 Women’s Budget Group: Carer’s Allowance overpayments. We support an open letter expressing concerns about Carer’s Allowance overpayment debts
March 21, 2025: Ministers urged to act as thousands more hit by UK carer’s allowance debts. Ministers urged to act as thousands more hit by UK carer’s allowance debts. Latest overpayment figures bring total number falling foul of ‘cliff-edge’ rules on earnings to 144,000. by Patrick Butler Social Policy Editor and Josh Halliday North of England Editor, The Guardian
March 26, 2025 Carers UK Press Release Spring statement: Shocking carers' benefits cuts are a first in decades
Helen Walker, Chief Executive of Carers UK, said:
“Today’s spring statement confirms that the Government’s welfare reform plans will include the first substantial cuts to Carer’s Allowance in decades, realising many carers’ worst fears. This is an unprecedented step in the wrong direction and must be swiftly rectified.
“According to the DWP’s impact assessment, changes to Personal Independence Payments (PIP) entitlement rules will see 150,000 people lose their entitlement to carers’ benefits by 2029/30 - a reduction in financial support for carers worth £500 million.
“PIP is a ‘gateway’ benefit impacting eligibility for further support for carers, for whom the knock-on effect is both shocking and shameful. This will cause huge anxiety for hard-pressed carers and their families who need every penny they can get to pay their bills. 1.2 million unpaid carers already live in poverty, and 400,000 live in deep poverty in the UK.
“Carers save the UK economy an estimated £184 billion a year, but now many more are in danger of further financial hardship and poverty. They deserve so much more. The repercussions of today’s changes will be felt deeply by those who for too long, have been our last line of defence – providing vital support which simply can’t be found elsewhere.”
April 15 2025 DWP to overhaul carer’s allowance checks after overpayment scandal Department previously investigated only 50% of earnings limit alerts, meaning many carers fell into debt. By Patrick Butler Social Policy Editor, The Guardian
The chief executive of Carers UK, Helen Walker, welcomed the move: “When the alerts target was set at 50%, thousands of carers were missed and experienced large and damaging overpayments, in a situation that could have been largely avoided,” she said.
But she warned that until the new policy took effect, tens of thousands more carers would continue to be hit with overpayments, including an estimated 20,000 at risk when a huge backlog of paper-based alerts related to national insurance credits, which the DWP allowed to build up, is finally tackled.
“As the DWP works to clear the current backlog, the human cost of a system which needed an overhaul years ago will still continue to rise. Sadly, clearing the backlog is likely to result in a further rise in overpayments debts,” said Walker.
May 3 2025 Mother of autistic boy left with £10,000 debt after breaching DWP rules by £1.92 a week Over five-year period Oksana Shahar – who cares for her son – was paid a small amount more than carer’s allowance earnings limits allow. By Josh Halliday North of England Editor, The Guardian
The family appealed against the £10,000 fine but it was rejected by the DWP. They are now awaiting the outcome of a second challenge.
Oksana’s husband, Guy Shahar said the government’s “unfair persecution” had left them distressed and devastated: “It was like the whole foundation of the life that we’d created, which is a very simple life and it’s on fragile foundations anyway – it’s like those foundations were just being taken away. And they’re being taken away by people who’d been telling us all along that they were there to support us”.
Helen Walker, the chief executive of Carers UK, urged the DWP to write off debts in cases like the Shahars’ – and said the case highlighted the need for wide-ranging reform.
“I’m saddened and concerned by the fact that we’re still hearing of fresh instances of those, like Guy and his family, who have fallen foul of an inflexible and unfair system,” she said. “This is a clear demonstration of why we need to see a better alternative to the current ‘cliff-edge’.”
A DWP spokesperson said: “We have paused the recovery of Mrs Shahar’s overpayment pending the outcome of her appeal.
“We understand the struggles facing so many carers, which is why have launched an independent review of carer’s allowance, to explore how earnings-related overpayments have occurred and what changes can be made. This is due to report in the summer and the government will consider its findings following its conclusion.”
May 19 2025 At least £357m in carer’s allowance paid out in error over past six years, charity finds. Exclusive: overpayments because of official failures led to debt and misery for many thousands of people.
Carers UK, which used new official fraud and error data to calculate the £357m figure, described it as an unacceptable failure by the DWP, which years ago promised new technology would almost entirely eradicate carer’s allowance overpayments.
“Given that unpaid carers were falsely assured that the problem would be largely resolved in 2019, they deserve better, and we’ve asked the government to strike off debts where they could have told carers sooner,” said Emily Holzhausen, director of policy and public affairs at Carer’s UK.
May 20, 2025 Carers UK Press Release ‘Carers UK comments on new figures: Carer's Allowance overpayments in Government's publication of 'Fraud and error in the benefit system' 2024-2025’ Read the full press release here.
Last week, Government published its new Fraud and Error statistics which contain new figures on Carer’s Allowance.
Analysing this work, Carers UK has estimated that at least £357 million of Carer's Allowance has been overpaid in relation to earnings by the Department for Work and Pensions since 2019. During this time the DWP has failed to act swiftly on overpayments alerts, leaving many unpaid carers who had unwittingly gone over the earnings limit for Carer’s Allowance, with large debts.
This latest Fraud and Error publication shows the lowest recorded level of fraud to date on Carer’s Allowance earnings overpayments which is a move in the right direction, but this level could have been far lower, if the Government had acted earlier.
The DWP attributes the overall fall of fraud and error rates in Carer's Allowance (from 5.2% in 2020 to 3.9% in 2025) to its success with the Verify Earnings and Pension (VEP) system. We know that only 50%, at the most, of cases identified through this system were being investigated by the Carer’s Allowance team through this period. This rate could have been lower had the Government investigated 100% of alerts, telling carers far earlier about overpayments.
The DWP received strong recommendations as far back as 2019 to ensure that the Carer’s Allowance Unit was properly resourced to investigate matches flagged by the VEP system, but high levels of incorrect payments have continued.
In 2019, Carers UK demonstrated the outdated system was already failing unpaid carers, with little information for them to make decisions and understand how their incomes would be affected by earnings.
Helen Walker, Chief Executive of Carers UK, said:
“There have been missed opportunities to alert carers earlier, resulting in misery and hardship for many carers and their families who have inadvertently breached the earnings threshold. Unpaid carers often tell us that the DWP is short on advice and support and quick to penalise mistakes.
“Government could have continued to measure fraud accurately from 2020 – assessing if the alerts system was working as claimed but these figures are further proof of a system which lacks transparency and needs better, more robust management.
“We are pleased that Liz Sayce OBE is undertaking a review of the Carer's Allowance overpayments scandal, and that the Government has said that it will increase resources for the team tackling overpayments - to act immediately on 100% of VEP alerts. However, in the meantime, they intend to tackle the backlog of overpayments, which is likely to see more large overpayments incurred, inflicting more pain and misery on unpaid carers.
“Given that unpaid carers were falsely assured that the problem would be largely resolved in 2019, they deserve better, and we've asked Government to strike off debts where they could have told carers sooner.”
May 20, 2025 “Guardian journalists win Paul Foot award for carer’s allowance coverage Patrick Butler and Josh Halliday honoured for their coverage of ‘enraging and heartbreaking’ DWP scandal”
If you or anyone you know has an overpayment of Carers Allowance, seek support information from Carers UK or via their helpline at 0808 808 7777 from Monday to Friday, 9am – 6pm (excluding Bank Holidays), or you can contact them by email (advice@carersuk.org).
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Worth noting: Charities must tread a fine line with every statement they make to push for change with the government. I continue to be impressed by the Carers UK and work.