Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what safeguards are in place to ensure reasonable rates of repayment from recipients of carers' allowance who have been overpaid through no fault of their own.

Claimants are required to tell us about any changes in their circumstances. Once a claimant has advised us of a change, any subsequent overpayment is called official error.

The Department does not seek the recovery of Carer’s Allowance official error overpayments as this is not permitted under the Social Security Administration Act 1992 Section 71 (1).

Where a claimant has failed to report a change, or has provided inaccurate information, overpayments are recoverable. When recovering overpayments, the Department ensures that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect the welfare of claimants, including renegotiating repayment rates where this is needed.