The UK Government’s chief autism advocate has condemned the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for prosecuting carers who unintentionally breach the earnings limit for their benefit.
Sir Robert Buckland MP told Autism Eye: “I will be speaking urgently to the Secretary of State about this issue, which is of great concern. Carers should not be penalised as a result of a mistake made by the DWP.”
”Carers should not be prosecuted,“ says Sir Robert Buckland MP
Buckland is chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Autism. In February, he published the Government-backed Buckland Review of Autism Employment.
Big debts for thousands
His comments follow reports that thousands of carers have run up big debts, have been given criminal records and have been forced to sell their homes after the DWP prosecuted them over “honest mistakes” that officials could have spotted years earlier.
Prosecuting carers who unintentionally go above the earnings limit for their benefit is “unforgivable”, says Katy Styles, founder of the We Care Campaign.
Styles, whose group defends carers’ rights, condemned the DWP for targeting carers who have inadvertently exceeded the £151 per week earnings threshold for claiming Carer’s Allowance.
Styles, 55, from Canterbury, is a full-time carer for husband Mark, who has motor neurone disease.
Carers ‘save Government £162bn’
She said carers save the UK Government £162bn a year, almost as much as the NHS’s £181.7bn budget.
Styles said it is “very easy” for carers to inadvertently breach the threshold because the minimum wage has risen to £11.44 per hour.
DWP took £16,000 inheritance
Katy Styles with husband Mark. Full-time carer Styles believes DWP prosecutions of carers are “unforgivable”
Vivienne Groom, from Tarvin, near Chester, was among those the DWP has prosecuted.
The DWP took her £16,000 inheritance from her 91-year-old mother, Maud. This came after she admitted failing to declare part-time earnings.
The 59-year-old carer insisted a social worker told her she did not have to declare the work. She insisted it was an honest mistake.
Carers end up owing thousands
Professor Sue Yeandle is a Sheffield University academic specialising in the care system.
She advised a parliamentary committee that, in 2008, called for Carer’s Allowance to be “radically overhauled”. The reason was that the earnings limit “increased the risk of overpayments”.
Yeandle said if a carer gets a pay rise that puts them over the earnings limit by just a few pence, they lose the full value of the £81.90 per week benefit.
But it can take months for the DWP to work this out. It means carers can be left owing thousands of pounds and facing prosecution.
‘It is right that we recover taxpayers’ money’
A spokesperson for the DWP said: “Claimants have a responsibility to inform DWP of any changes in their circumstances that could impact their award, and it is right that we recover taxpayers’ money when this has not occurred.”
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Published: 13 April 2024. Updated 16 April 2024.
