Ministers set aside £75m to fix failures that caused carer’s allowance crisis
Ministers have set aside £75m to fix systemic failures that caused hundreds of thousands of unpaid carers to be hit with huge bills after unwittingly breaching complex and confusing benefit rules,A damning independent review, published on Tuesday, found that outdated technology, unclear guidance and a failure of leadership by ministers and senior welfare officials had led to punitive sanctions on vulnerable families,It followed a year-long Guardian investigation into how hundreds of unpaid carers had been criminally prosecuted and hundreds of thousands penalised for errors the review concluded were mostly not “wilful rule-breaking”,Pat McFadden, the welfare secretary, promised this week that the government would fix the “mess” he said had been left by previous administrations,The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has said it will reassess 145,000 cases in which people were overpaid carer’s allowance, with some of those debts likely to be struck off or reimbursed.
However, the DWP has stopped short of issuing a formal apology or offering compensation.Figures released as part of Rachel Reeves’s budget on Wednesday showed that ministers have earmarked £75m from 2026 to fix the issues raised by the review, led by the disability rights expert Liz Sayce.It is understood that most of the £75m will pay for the large number of officials needed to reassess the 145,000 overpayments.A smaller amount is expected to be used to either write off debts or reimburse unpaid carers who have already paid.Official documents show that £20m is due to be spent in 2026-27, £35m the following year and £20m in 2028-29.
The money is to cover the costs to “reassess overpayments from 2015 to 2025 caused by incorrect operational guidance”,The “incorrect operational guidance” refers mainly to guidance issued to DWP staff in 2020 that caught out carers whose weekly or monthly earnings fluctuated, and who were penalised despite their “average” total earnings over a defined period being within allowed earnings limits,The guidance resulted in a surge of overpayment penalties,Unpaid carers who look after loved ones for at least 35 hours a week are entitled to £83,30 a week carer’s allowance, as long as their weekly earnings from part-time jobs do not exceed £196.
If they exceed this limit, even by as little as 1p, under “cliff edge” rules they must repay the entire week’s allowance.This means a carer who oversteps the earnings threshold by 1p a week for a year must repay not 52p but £4,331.60, plus a £50 civil penalty.Carers in zero hours or seasonal work were especially vulnerable to penalties.The review cites a part-time NHS worker who was forced to pay back £300 carer’s allowance after getting a one-off £200 Covid bonus, leaving them £100 out of pocket.
The review said the guidelines were flawed, confusing and out of step with social security law.It “was not clear why the new guidance was introduced” it said, adding it appeared to have been done so without being tested or legally checked.The guidance was never published, leaving carers in the dark about whether it was permissible to average their earnings.Carers told the review they had received conflicting advice from the DWP.New guidance was introduced in September this year.
Helen Walker, the chief executive of Carers UK, said the fix was a “vital step towards addressing the injustices carers have faced for far too long”.She added: “In the coming days, we will be examining how much of this funding will directly benefit carers and how much will be used to implement the new systems and processes that are so urgently needed to prevent this happening again.”
Only people power can save us from populism | Letters
Timothy Garton Ash has produced an excellent list of safeguards against extremism (My guide to populist-proofing your democracy – before it’s too late, 25 November). Unfortunately, they don’t work in the long term. The finest minds of the Enlightenment devised the checks and balances of the US constitution, and an authoritarian like Donald Trump brushed them aside in two minutes.Laws and regulations to guarantee good government only work if the people want them to. If they’re not bothered, then no amount of safeguarding is of much use
A public inquiry on Brexit might make it easier for us to rejoin the EU | Letters
Better late than never, Jonathan Freedland (Rachel Reeves is studiously ignoring the cause of Britain’s woes: the Brexit-shaped hole in the roof, 21 November). Brexit was supposed to “take back control” and sort out the immigration crisis. In both respects, it failed. Polish plumbers have been replaced by Afghans in asylum hotels, and the UK has forfeited the mechanism to return them to the EU. Meanwhile, with trade, investment and labour choked off, the economy grinds along at the bottom
The Green party’s policies on Israel are appealing to young British Jews | Letter
We were fascinated to read your article on the important report by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) on Jewish voting patterns in the UK (British Jews turn to Greens and Reform UK as support for main parties drops, 20 November). This demonstrates that growing numbers of Jews are deserting the Labour and Conservative parties in favour of the Green party and Reform UK.As JPR points out, there is no symmetry here. The turn to Reform among Jewish voters is half the size of the growth in support for the party within the population as a whole. On the other hand, support for Greens among Jews is 900% the size of the turn to the Green party overall
No 10 dismisses claim that OBR revelations show Reeves misled public about need for tax rises in budget – UK politics live
Downing Street has brushed off claims that Rachel Reeves misled voters ahead of the budget about the state of the public finances.At the No 10 lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson was asked why, in her speech on 4 November, and again in a Radio 5 Live interview a few days later, she said that the downgrade in the productivity growth forecast meant meeting her fiscal rules would be very difficult.Reeves told R5L on 10 November: “It would, of course, be possible to stick with the manifesto commitments [not to raise the main taxes]. But that would require things like deep cuts in capital spending.”Asked today if these warnings meant Reeves misled the public in the run-up to the budget about the state of the public finances, the PM’s spokesperson said: “I don’t accept that,”Asked why Reeves was claiming that there was a black hole in the public finances, when the OBR today is saying there wasn’t (see 12
Sadiq Khan recalls past abuse as he urges Nigel Farage to apologise over racism claims
Sadiq Khan has spoken of his dismay at Nigel Farage’s “desperate” denials of allegations of teenage racism as he described how his experience as a child shaped his life.The mayor of London said testimony from more than 20 individuals who made allegations about the Reform leader had summoned memories of his own past.“Being called the ‘P word’ at that age doesn’t just hurt you, it changes you,” he said. “It changes how you pronounce your name. It changes the way you talk to your friends, and it changes the way you walk down the street
Budget has preserved Starmer’s job until at least May elections, say Labour MPs
Labour MPs have said they believe Keir Starmer’s leadership is safe until at least the May elections, after a budget that avoided any major damaging measures but which few MPs believe will revive the party’s fortunes.More than a dozen previously loyal MPs told the Guardian they did not believe the budget would shift the fundamentals required for the party to beat Reform. “It only delays what is inevitable,” one minister said.On Wednesday night in the Commons after the budget, many of the cabinet did the rounds chatting to MPs, including the health secretary and the prime minister’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, a tacit declaration of peace after the fallout from a week of furious briefing about Streeting’s leadership ambitions from allies of Starmer.Those close to Starmer were adamant he would never have walked away had the budget fuelled more criticism of his leadership
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