Unpaid carers claiming Carer’s Allowance—currently worth £83.30 per week—have found themselves liable for debts ranging from £1,000 to more than £20,000. These sums were accumulated over time due to errors in the Department’s alert-handling systems.
The situation stems from breaches of the benefit’s earnings threshold, which many carers were unaware they had exceeded. Despite receiving thousands of automated alerts, the DWP reportedly failed to verify a large number of these cases in time.
Systemic Failure to Address Alerts and Prevent Overpayments
Data gathered by Carers UK shows that between 2018 and 2024, an estimated £357 million was incorrectly paid out to caregivers who no longer qualified due to earnings breaches.
In many cases, these carers had minor violations of the earnings limit, yet continued receiving payments because the DWP did not respond promptly to system alerts.
According to the advocacy group, only half of all alerts were processed using the DWP’s own Verify Earnings and Pensions (VEP) system, allowing thousands of overpayments to continue unchecked. Carers, unaware of the breaches, only discovered the problem when faced with repayment demands—sometimes years after the fact.
Emily Holzhausen, Director of Policy at Carers UK, stated: “Unpaid carers were falsely assured that the problem would be largely resolved in 2019. They deserve better.” The organisation has called on the government to write off debts in cases where carers could not have reasonably known they were overpaid.
DWP Response Under Scrutiny Amid Political Pressure
In 2019, Sir Peter Schofield, Permanent Secretary at the DWP, told Parliament that new digital tools would prevent overpayments “in some cases before they happen.” Despite that promise, the issue persisted for several more years, fuelling criticism of the Department’s internal controls and oversight.
A DWP spokesperson has since confirmed that steps are being taken to improve the system, stating: “And we are going further by increasing funding and bringing in more staff to check 100% of alerts to help prevent carers falling into debt.”
The department claims that the overpayment rate for Carer’s Allowance is the lowest on record, and insists it is committed to preventing caregivers from falling into unmanageable debt.
The issue has sparked wider political debate, with critics accusing Conservative-led administrations of mishandling the benefit system. One online commenter described the situation as “just another issue Labour are having to deal with.”
