Unpaid carers will be asked to repay up to £50,000 in benefit overpayments, government says

Unpaid carers may be forced to repay up to £50,000 that they wrongly received in benefits, the government has said.

Tens of thousands of people who receive Carer's Allowance were overpaid in 2018 by amounts ranging from £67 to £48,560, and ministers plan to make many of them repay the money.

The huge size of some of the overpayments was exposed by Frank Field, chair of the Commons work and pensions committee, who condemned ministers' "shocking ineptitude".

The veteran MP, who resigned the Labour whip earlier this year, demanded an urgent investigation by the National Audit Office.

Those among the UK's 6.5 million unpaid carers who earn less than £120 a week after tax and expenses are entitled to receive £64.80 a week in Carer's Allowance.

However, recipients often do not realise that they completely lose their right to payments if their incomes rise even slightly above the threshold, meaning many continue to be paid money they are not entitled to.

£700m of overpayments are believed to have been made in the last five years.

The DWP said 69,609 people could be asked to repay money through deductions from their benefits.

Reports suggest 1,000 of them may be prosecuted, while up to 10,000 could be forced to pay fines of up to £5,000.

Mr Field said: “It is unfathomable that the DWP could allow someone to accrue close to £50,000 in overpaid Carer’s Allowance.

"No carer should have to suffer as result of such shocking ineptitude and I believe those overpayments that are the fault of the government’s own incompetence should be written off with the greatest urgency.

"I am referring this gross failure of the DWP, to run properly this aspect of its duties, to the National Audit Office to investigate.”

The size of some of the overpayments was revealed in a letter to Mr Field from Peter Schofield, permanent secretary at the DWP.

He said the biggest overpayment in 2017-18 was £41,937, while the year before saw at least one carer receive £47,761 more than they should have.

However, he insisted the DWP would take into account people's personal circumstances when trying to reclaim the money, meaning some people would not be asked to repay anything.

Mr Field has written to the head of the National Audit Office, Sir Amyas Morse, calling for an urgent investigation into the "truly shocking" matter.

He wrote: "It is deeply concerning that the department has allowed claimants to accrue such eye-wateringly large overpayments - nearly £50,000 at the top of the range. More than just oversight, these figures suggest that systematic failings or gross incompetence - or a combination of the two - are at play.

"It is carers who will bear the brunt of these failings, as the department seeks to claw back money from people who can ill afford to lose it."

A DWP spokesperson said: “We work extremely hard to make claimants aware of their responsibility to provide correct information when making a benefit claim and to report any change in their circumstances. This includes informing customers of the consequences of incorrect or late reporting of information, including prosecution, financial penalty and debt implications.

“We are also introducing new technology to make it easier to identify and prevent overpayments and improve debt recovery.

“But it is right that we take the appropriate action – we have a duty to the taxpayer to recover outstanding money in all cases of fraud or error.”