Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has considered pausing the creation of new Carer’s Allowance overpayment debts until after the independent review into Carer’s Allowance overpayments has published its recommendations.

We recognise that overpayments have caused anxiety for some people. This is why it is important to take the time to independently review these circumstances, so we can find out exactly what went wrong and make things right. The review is not a substitute for legal proceedings and the existence of the review does not prejudice any business-as-usual activity by DWP. It would not be appropriate to speculate on the findings of the review or pre-empt any potential outcomes.

We do carefully balance our duty to the taxpayer to recover overpayments with safeguards in place to manage repayments fairly. Carers have a responsibility to ensure they are entitled to benefits and to inform the DWP of any changes in their circumstances that could impact their award. Support remains in place with DWP’s Debt Management Service available to speak to anyone who has had an overpayment about the terms of their repayment.