The DWP is currently pursuing unpaid carers for a staggering quarter of a billion pounds in overpaid Carers Allowance (CA), even as a review begins into how the system has gone so badly wrong.
A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) has found that CA overpayment debt rose to £251.7 million in 2023-24, increasing from £150.2 million in 2018-19.
The number of carers being owing money to the DWP increased every year from 2018-19 to 2023-24 – rising from 80,169 to 136,730, an increase of 71%.
The DWP recovered £28 million more in overpayments, but also wrote off £6 million more, in 2023-24 than it did in 2018-19.
The NAO found that in 2023-24, the most significant causes of new overpayment cases related to:
- claimants having earnings over the permitted limit (58% of cases).
- claimants ceasing to provide care (24% of cases).
- other reasons where the claimant no longer met the eligibility criteria, e.g. being in receipt of an overlapping benefit; the person being cared for had died (16% of cases).
The government announced in October that that a review of Carer’s Allowance would take place.
The terms of reference of the review have now been published. It will look at:
- 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
The review is due to report next summer.
In the meantime, the DWP will continue pursuing carers for debts they can ill afford to repay.
Read the full NAO report here
