A damning new report has exposed a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) scandal leaving unpaid carers too frightened to even tell their own families about demands for money.
The Human Cost of DWP Overpayments
The powerful Sayce report has heavily criticised the DWP for its systemic failings in handling Carer's Allowance. Unpaid carers are being chased by the government for overpayments that resulted from administrative mistakes, not their own errors. The emotional toll has been severe, with claimants speaking out about the profound distress caused by the department's letters.
One carer revealed to the inquiry team the direct impact on their health, stating they "lost weight, I couldn't sleep" after being ordered to repay money. The sense of shame was so overwhelming for another that they kept the DWP demand a secret from their family. "I felt so shocked. I felt shame," they confessed.
A System in Crisis
The scandal revolves around historic overpayments where carers, who must earn £151 a week or less to qualify, unwittingly breached the threshold. This led to them accruing unmanageable debt, with some even forced to quit their jobs as a result. The earnings threshold was raised to £196 a week from April this year.
Carer’s Allowance, currently paid at £81.90 a week, is provided to individuals who spend at least 35 hours a week caring for someone with a disability who receives a qualifying benefit like PIP.
The anxiety even extended to those being cared for. One carer shared that their mother "began to feel like a burden," and that the person they were looking after "still felt this weight of worry up to the point of their death."
Calls for Justice and System Reform
Helen Walker, chief executive of Carers UK, described the situation as "challenging and distressing" for countless unpaid carers. She welcomed the review's acknowledgement of "system failures" and the unprecedented move to reassess cases and potentially repay or write off debt.
"The move to reassess cases and repay or write off debt in certain circumstances is unprecedented in our view, a righting of a clear wrong," Ms Walker stated. "It is addressing this injustice head on." She expressed hope that this could mark the beginning of rebuilding carers' trust in a system that has let them down.
