DWP planning helpful change to Carer's Allowance after claimants forced to repay £20,000

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is set to rollout a crucial change to Carer's Allowance. The DWP has felt compelled to act amid a growing backlash and controversy around a scandal which has seen unpaid carers prosecuted over breaching the earnings threshold.

Thousands on the benefit are having to pay back as much as £20,000 after unknowingly breaching government rules which state you can't claim if you earn over £151 a week. The DWP has announced new plans to help claimants avoid being prosecuted.

It is mulling over the use of targeted text messages or emails and sending an alert to claimants in a bid to encourage them to make contact when the DWP is made aware of a potential overpayment. It will reduce the risk of those customers being overpaid, according to the DWP.

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If your earnings go over the limit - even by just £1 - you lose your entitlement to Carer's Allowance under DWP rules. Most people claiming Carer's Allowance are from low income households and are caring for sick and disabled relatives.

Carer's Allowance is worth £81.90 a week and is awarded if you care for someone at least 35 hours a week from the government. The person you care for must also be claiming certain benefits, such as Personal Independence Payment.

In recent weeks, reports have shown a woman was told to pay back almost £6,000 to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) after she took on an extra shift at Sainsbury’s while caring for her seriously unwell partner.

And a full-time carer and dad-of-three was forced to sell his home - or face jail - after he was prosecuted because he was overpaid Carer’s Allowance. Last month, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) acknowledged that he had probably made an innocent mistake in a letter.