Found: to extinction risk 145 Create a national advocacy support service for UK veterans 98 Increase Carer's

Found: that th ere be a debate on the motion “That this House has considered e- petition 640062 relating to Carer's

Found: Correspondence with the Permanent Secretary relating to Carer's Allowance , dated 18 October 2023.

Found: Correspondence with the National Audit Office relating to Carer's Allowance Correspondence

Found: Allowance and Universal Credit, but the two overlap, so the people who benefit financially from Carer's

Found: Correspondence with the Secretary of State relating to Carer's Allowance Correspondence

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what changes the Department for Work and Pensions has made to its procedures to ensure that the overpayment of carer's allowance to recipients cannot occur in the future.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment has the Department for Work and Pensions made of its own culpability in issuing overpayments to recipients of carer's allowance.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government from how many recipients of carer's allowance the Department for Work and Pensions is seeking repayment following overpayment of that allowance.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to forgoing repayment of the overpayment to recipients of carer’s allowance in instances where the Department for Work and Pensions is at fault for such overpayment.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the maximum amount that the Department for Work and Pensions is seeking to recover from any individual recipient of carer's allowance as a result of overpayment of that allowance; and whether there is any cap on the total amount sought.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 15 April 2024 to Question 19769 on Carers’ Allowance: Veterans, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of recording whether Carers’ Allowance claimants are veterans.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

As explained in the answer on 15 April, to PQ19769, we have no plans to introduce a veterans’ marker for Carer’s Allowance. Therefore, we do not hold information on the number of veterans receiving Carer’s Allowance in garrison towns.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many veterans in garrison towns claimed Carer’s Allowance in 2022-23.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

As explained in the answer on 15 April, to PQ19769, we have no plans to introduce a veterans’ marker for Carer’s Allowance. Therefore, we do not hold information on the number of veterans receiving Carer’s Allowance in garrison towns.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many recipients of Carer’s Allowance in Wales also had another income in financial year 2023-24.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The data requested is not currently held by the department and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Carer's Allowance overpayments to people living in Wales there were for the value of (a) £0.01 to £500, (b) £500.01 to £1,000, (c) £1,000.01 to £5,000, (d) £5,000.01 to £20,000 and (e) more than £20,000 in financial years (i) 2021-22, (ii) 2022-23 and (iii) 2023-24.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

We are unable to provide a response to this request as it is not possible for us to identify the data requested by geographic location.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Carer’s Allowance overpayments relating to earnings conditions were made to people living in Wales in each of the last three financial years.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

We are unable to provide a response to this request as it is not possible for us to identify the data requested by geographic location.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to prevent the accumulation of debt among carers due to (a) delayed investigation and (b) non-investigation of overpayment alerts.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The DWP is progressing an enhanced notification strategy for Carers’ Allowance, to help claimants understand when they may have received an earnings-related overpayment, and to meet their obligation to inform the Department of changes in their income and other relevant circumstances. This will be designed to help prevent Carer’s Allowance claimants accumulating debt.

As part of that, DWP is considering the most effective and efficient way of contacting customers when alerted to a potential change in the customer’s income, building on existing communications. This could include targeted text messaging, email, phone calls or letters.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many carer’s allowance overpayment cases that have not been investigated by his Department; and how many such cases there were in each of the last five years.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

We are unable to provide a response as it is unclear from your question as to the information you seek.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many outstanding Carer’s Allowance Verify Earnings and Pension service alerts there were at the end of the financial year 2023-24.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The DWP is currently developing recommendations focused on helping claimants understand their responsibilities to report a change of circumstances and how DWP can help prevent the accumulation of debts amongst Carer’s Allowance claimants.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are in debt to the Department through overpayments of Carers Allowance; and how much do they owe in total.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

As of 14^th May 2024, the volume of people who have an outstanding Carers Allowance debt is 134,800 with a total value of £251m. This figure represents the total stock and as such the total monetary amount may have been accrued over multiple years. Those who have an outstanding Carers Allowance debt may no longer be in receipt of the benefit.

Women make up the majority of Carer’s Allowance claims, and this is reflected in the proportion of those with an outstanding Carer’s Allowance debt. As of 14^th May 2024, there were 42,800 (32%) males, 91,900 (68%) females and 100 (less than 1%) not identified, with an outstanding Carers Allowance debt.

As of November 2023, there were over 991,000 people in receipt of Carers Allowance. That figure is made up of over 271,000 (27%) males and 720,000 (73%) females.

The data contained in our response has been sourced from internal DWP management information, which is intended only to help the Department to manage its business. It is not intended for publication and has not been subject to the same quality assurance checks applied to our published official statistics. It should therefore be treated with caution.

All figures provided have been rounded.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) men and (b) women are in debt to his Department through overpayments of Carers Allowance.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

As of 14^th May 2024, the volume of people who have an outstanding Carers Allowance debt is 134,800 with a total value of £251m. This figure represents the total stock and as such the total monetary amount may have been accrued over multiple years. Those who have an outstanding Carers Allowance debt may no longer be in receipt of the benefit.

Women make up the majority of Carer’s Allowance claims, and this is reflected in the proportion of those with an outstanding Carer’s Allowance debt. As of 14^th May 2024, there were 42,800 (32%) males, 91,900 (68%) females and 100 (less than 1%) not identified, with an outstanding Carers Allowance debt.

As of November 2023, there were over 991,000 people in receipt of Carers Allowance. That figure is made up of over 271,000 (27%) males and 720,000 (73%) females.

The data contained in our response has been sourced from internal DWP management information, which is intended only to help the Department to manage its business. It is not intended for publication and has not been subject to the same quality assurance checks applied to our published official statistics. It should therefore be treated with caution.

All figures provided have been rounded.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Carer’s Allowance overpayment cases are being investigated by his Department; and if he will publish the level of overpayments being pursued, broken down into £1,000 ranges in the financial year 2023-24.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

There are currently 750 live cases where Carers Allowance is shown as the “primary” benefit under investigation.

We do not hold information on the size of any individual overpayment whilst the investigation process is taking place – this is not determined until the investigation is completed.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in receipt of Carer's Allowance are in paid employment.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Data from the Family and Resources Survey 2022/23 shows there were 150,355 households in receipt of Carer’s Allowance in the UK that also had someone in paid employment. This data is available on Stat-Xplore here.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people who claimed Carer's Allowance were caring for someone in receipt of a Personal Independence Payment in the past 12 months.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

This information is only available at disproportionate cost to The Department for Work & Pensions as the Department does not have a business requirement for this information to be retained.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people who claimed Carer's Allowance also claimed a Personal Independence Payment in the past 12 months.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

This information is only available at disproportionate cost to The Department for Work & Pensions as the Department does not have a business requirement for this information to be retained.

Found: “I know with Carer's Allowance you're only allowed to earn a hundred and whatever pounds it is per week

Found: The benefits reviewed in previous years are Employment and Support Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Carer's

Found: The benefits reviewed in previous years are Employment and Support Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Carer's

Found: The benefits reviewed in previous years are Attendance Allowance, Carer's Allowance Jobseeker's Allowance

Found: Another break is between FYE 2019 and FYE 2020 for Carer's Allowance.

Found: Percentage (%) of respondents* Scottish Child Payment 45% Adult Disability Payment 38% Carer's

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it is having with the Department for Work and Pensions under the agency agreement for the delivery of Carer's Allowance in Scotland to identify the (a) number of carers affected by overpayment debt and (b) levels of debt accumulated.

Answered by Somerville, Shirley-Anne - Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice

The Scottish Government has urged the DWP to carefully consider people’s individual circumstances before any recovery of Carer’s Allowance overpayments from carers. Discussions are ongoing with the DWP as to potential arrangements for the recovery of any Carer’s Allowance overpayments for carers in Scotland that remain once case transfer is complete and the current Agency Agreement comes to an end.

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to reform the threshold element of the Carer Support Payment following the completion of the transfer from Carer's Allowance in Scotland.

Answered by Somerville, Shirley-Anne - Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice

As set out in our response to our 2022 public consultation, we are considering options for reform of the earnings threshold as part of longer-term plans for improvements to Carer Support Payment. These include increasing the earnings threshold and introducing a run-on of support to mitigate the earnings ‘cliff edge’, both of which were supported by the majority of respondents to the consultation. Given the range of views on how the earnings rules for Carer Support Payment could work differently from Carer’s Allowance, we are continuing to consider the responses received. We are also considering research, recently published by the DWP in May, on carers’ experiences of claiming and receiving Carer’s Allowance to inform our approach.

Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the introduction and operation of Carer Support Payment, whether it has made an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to prevent the accumulation of debt among carers in receipt of Carer's Allowance in Scotland due to (a) delayed investigation and (b) non-investigation of overpayment alerts.

Answered by Somerville, Shirley-Anne - Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice

We have taken on board lessons from Carer’s Allowance in designing Carer Support Payment to better prevent overpayments. Information on earnings rules and when to report changes are much clearer. We are making better use of the ability to average out carers’ earnings, and using data from HMRC and scheduled reviews for self-employed carers to check and track carers’ earnings. Our systems use automated decision making for the most straightforward applications, allowing more time and resource to focus on complex cases and earnings processes. We pay Carer Support Payment four weekly in arrears as standard, reducing the potential for overpayments by allowing more time for a change of circumstances to be reported and reflected in a carer’s award. As part of the case transfer process, we also have processes in place to check earnings once carer’s awards are in payment to reduce the risk of inheriting existing overpayments. We are continuing to take feedback from carers and stakeholders to consider how we can continue to improve our earnings processes.

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what work it will undertake with (a) the Department for Work and Pensions and (b) Social Security Scotland during the roll-out of, and process of case transfer to, Carer Support Payment, to increase the level of help and advice available to unpaid carers in Scotland who may have been left in debt due to overpayments of Carer's Allowance.

Answered by Somerville, Shirley-Anne - Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice

The Scottish Government has urged the DWP to carefully consider people’s individual circumstances before any recovery of Carer’s Allowance overpayments from carers. It is our established policy that no-one should be placed into hardship as a result of overpayment recovery. Social Security Scotland have in place processes to prevent and identify overpayments as quickly as possible, and will consider an individual’s financial and personal circumstances as far as they are known before recovery is attempted. Social Security Scotland will discuss the best way forward for individuals and anyone affected will be able to seek support and advice before agreeing any repayment plan. Any deductions are set at manageable levels and individuals can seek a redetermination and appeal where a new determination has been made. Discussions are ongoing with the DWP as to potential arrangements for the recovery of any Carer’s Allowance overpayments for carers in Scotland that remain once case transfer is complete and the current Agency Agreement comes to an end.