DWP told to 'act better' as vulnerable benefit claimants hounded for up to £20,000 in repayments

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) came under fire this morning (April 25), when a former government adviser went on BBC Breakfast to criticise the way the benefits body treats vulnerable people.

Former dementia adviser Johnny Timpson OBE said he resigned from his position yesterday, while citing the case of a 92-year-old dementia sufferer hounded, who he said had been asked to pay back £7,000 in benefits.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: "We need to up our scrutiny of the DWP to make sure that they are acting better on behalf of taxpayers."

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The DWP chases thousands of people for benefits that they overpaid each year, but there has been a rise in older and more vulnerable people being chased for eye-watering sums of up to £20,000. This is because many of those with caring responsibilities, who give up a large part of their week to look after someone else for free, are mistakenly falling foul of the Carer's Allowance threshold.

To claim the Carer's Allowance, you must be earning less than £151 per week, but many people who might earn irregular income or simply forget about the threshold, have found themselves the target of a DWP investigation. This is because, for every week that a carer earns over £151, they are meant to repay their allowance in full. It is up to the claimant to manage their payments, despite the DWP having systems to detect overpayments.

If the Carer's Allowance claimant does not spot the overpayment, they can rack up thousands in debt without realising it. Then they receive demands for payment through the door.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Mr Timpson said: “It’s time for the DWP to review its vulnerable customer policy and practices and to take learnings from what is happening in regulated sectors – particularly in financial services and utilities.

"There’s a great deal of focus, driven by government departments that sponsor regulators in these sectors to improve awareness and support of vulnerable customers – encouraging firms and organisations to use their data to better identify people in moments and times of vulnerability, and where there is a potential harm, intervene and intervene quickly.

“We really do need to look at not only bringing the DWP - in terms of vulnerable customer policy – into line with regulated sectors, but we need to up our scrutiny of the DWP to make sure that they are acting better on behalf of taxpayers, but they are better serving the people in need – particularly where those people are vulnerable.”

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Despite the DWP having a back-end system to check payments against earnings, new figures have now revealed that there are an estimated 34,500 people who overpaid the benefit last year - up from 30,700 the year before - with more than 1,000 of them asked to pay back sums of between £5,000 and £20,000, according to the Guardian.

Senior tories and former ministers are urging the DWP to "pause" the overpayment claim process. The former Tory leader Ian Duncan Smith told the Guardian: "The best thing is for the DWP now to pause any of these demands, review carefully what was behind all of this to make sure this was not mistakes by DWP but is genuinely about individuals failing to notify the department."

A DWP spokesperson said: “Carers across the UK are unsung heroes who make a huge difference to someone else’s life and we have increased Carer's Allowance by almost £1,500 since 2010.

“We are committed to fairness in the welfare system, with safeguards in place for managing repayments, while protecting the public purse.

“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.”