Exclusive: Ministers have vowed to fix benefit after Guardian revealed thousands had been plunged into debt for accidentally breaking rules
The government is considering compensation payouts for unpaid carers who have been unfairly hit with huge financial repayments in recent years after inadvertently falling foul of harsh carer’s allowance benefit rules.
Ministers vowed to fix problems with the benefit after a Guardian investigation revealed how draconian penalties coupled with Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) administrative failures had plunged hundreds of thousands of carers into debt.
More than 144,000 carers are currently repaying £251m in benefit overpayments that typically amount to £5,000 but can be as high as £20,000. Some face life-changing bills after accidentally breaching earnings rules by a few pence a week.
The Guardian’s reporting of the DWP’s often brutal treatment of carers who were accidentally caught out by carer’s allowance earnings rules caused public outrage and led to comparisons with the Post Office scandal.
