Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to prevent large value overpayments from accruing for Carer’s Allowance since 2019.

Overpayments are recoverable from the Carer where there is evidence that the Carer failed to timeously inform the Department of changes in circumstances. The annual benefit uprating letter issued highlights the need to report changes such and changes in earnings. The Department also uses data from HMRC to indicate where the customer may have had a change in income and failed to inform us.

The Department also takes steps to avoid large scale overpayments that are not recoverable. This includes managing workloads at appropriate levels so changes in circumstance are processed timeously.