This week, Carers UK issued a report revealing the extent of Carer’s Allowance overpayments in the UK. Many unpaid carers across the country have been plunged into financial hardship by unknowingly receiving Carer’s Allowance overpayments and being forced to repay them. 

The earnings limit for Carer’s Allowance is £151 per week and exceeding this limit by just a few pence means carers must repay 100% of their Carer’s Allowance for that week, which is £81.90 at the 2024/25 rate. The report reveals that a staggering 134,800 carers have overpayment debt totalling £251 million.

Following Carers UK’s robust campaign against the overpayment scandal, Stephen Timms, Minister for Social Security and Disabilities, has agreed to meet with Carers UK and a group of unpaid carers later today to hear first-hand about their experiences. 

Carers UK proposes the following recommendations to the DWP: 

• Sending alerts to carers when their earnings potentially breach the earnings limit. 

• Improving information sharing and processes within the DWP.

• Enhancing the information available to carers and their interactions with the DWP. 

• Raising the Carer’s Allowance earnings limit to 21 hours per week and pegging it to the National Living Wage. 

• Replacing the hard ‘cliff edge’ of the earnings limit with a taper to earnings. 

• Writing off substantial overpayments where carers could have been notified sooner. 

• Conducting a full review of the Carer’s Allowance level and its eligibility criteria. 

Suzi Henderson, CEO of Cloverleaf Advocacy, said: “We are deeply shocked and saddened to see the extent of the impact on unpaid carers, who have worked tirelessly each day to care for friends and loved ones and have given up so much of their own lives. It is completely unacceptable and is a huge burden on top of the many financial and emotional challenges unpaid carers already experience daily.” 

To read the read in full visit: Carer’s Allowance overpayment report | Carers UK 

Carers UK are calling for those who have been affected by the carer overpayments scandal to fill out a survey sharing their experiences, so they can put together a dossier of carer’s experiences. If you haven’t yet filled out the survey, please share your experiences today: Survey on unpaid carers’ experiences of Carer’s Allowance overpayment in relation to earnings (surveymonkey.com)