Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many overpayments of Carer’s Allowance there have been in the earnings brackets (a) £0.01 - £500, (b) £500.01 - £1,000, (c) £1,000.01 - £5,000, (d) £5,000.01 - £20,000 and (e) over £20,000 providing figures for the latest available year.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Table 1 details the number of live Carer’s Allowance overpayments the department is seeking to recover, by the value brackets requested, as of 1st February 2023.
Overpayment Value | Volume of Overpayments |
£0.01 - £500 | 55,010 |
£500.01 - £1,000 | 50,753 |
£1,000.01 - £5,000 | 27,761 |
£5,000.01 - £20,000 | 11,773 |
Over £20,000 | 270 |
Total | 145,567 |
Table 1 - Note: Data is for England, Wales and Scotland only, and represents overpayments held with balances greater than £0.00.
Table 2 details the number of overpayments of Carer’s Allowance for the last available year (2022/23) where the reason for overpayment was recorded as earnings over the Carer’s Allowance limit. The actual amount of earnings received is not captured. The bandwidths used therefore relate to the amount overpaid.
Overpayment Value | Number of overpayments (2022/23) |
£0.01 - £500 | 7,121 |
£500.01 - £1,000 | 7,271 |
£1,000.01 - £5,000 | 11,476 |
£5,000.01 - £20,000 | 835 |
Over £20,000 | 36 |
Total | 26,739 |
Table 2 - Note: Data includes devolved overpayments from Scotland but excludes Northern Ireland.
Table 3 details the number of overpayments of Carer’s Allowance there have been in relation to the earnings conditions for the past 5 years.
Going further back, the data excludes overpayments fully repaid – details of which are archived after 14 months and fully deleted after 7 years, which does not allow for a true figure to be calculated. Data includes devolved overpayments from Scotland.
Financial Years | Volume of Overpayments |
2018/19 | 25,761 |
2019/20 | 39,502 |
2020/21 | 19,742 |
2021/22 | 35,965 |
2022/23 | 26,739 |
Total | 186,268 |
Table 3
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many overpayments of Carer’s Allowance there have been in relation to the earnings conditions in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Table 1 details the number of live Carer’s Allowance overpayments the department is seeking to recover, by the value brackets requested, as of 1st February 2023.
Overpayment Value | Volume of Overpayments |
£0.01 - £500 | 55,010 |
£500.01 - £1,000 | 50,753 |
£1,000.01 - £5,000 | 27,761 |
£5,000.01 - £20,000 | 11,773 |
Over £20,000 | 270 |
Total | 145,567 |
Table 1 - Note: Data is for England, Wales and Scotland only, and represents overpayments held with balances greater than £0.00.
Table 2 details the number of overpayments of Carer’s Allowance for the last available year (2022/23) where the reason for overpayment was recorded as earnings over the Carer’s Allowance limit. The actual amount of earnings received is not captured. The bandwidths used therefore relate to the amount overpaid.
Overpayment Value | Number of overpayments (2022/23) |
£0.01 - £500 | 7,121 |
£500.01 - £1,000 | 7,271 |
£1,000.01 - £5,000 | 11,476 |
£5,000.01 - £20,000 | 835 |
Over £20,000 | 36 |
Total | 26,739 |
Table 2 - Note: Data includes devolved overpayments from Scotland but excludes Northern Ireland.
Table 3 details the number of overpayments of Carer’s Allowance there have been in relation to the earnings conditions for the past 5 years.
Going further back, the data excludes overpayments fully repaid – details of which are archived after 14 months and fully deleted after 7 years, which does not allow for a true figure to be calculated. Data includes devolved overpayments from Scotland.
Financial Years | Volume of Overpayments |
2018/19 | 25,761 |
2019/20 | 39,502 |
2020/21 | 19,742 |
2021/22 | 35,965 |
2022/23 | 26,739 |
Total | 186,268 |
Table 3
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many debts of overpayments of Carer's Allowance his Department was seeking to recover in value brackets (a) £0.01 - £500, (b) £500.01 - £1,000, (c) £1,000.01 - £5,000, (d) £5,000.01 - £20,000 and (e) over £20,000 as of 1 February 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Table 1 details the number of live Carer’s Allowance overpayments the department is seeking to recover, by the value brackets requested, as of 1st February 2023.
Overpayment Value | Volume of Overpayments |
£0.01 - £500 | 55,010 |
£500.01 - £1,000 | 50,753 |
£1,000.01 - £5,000 | 27,761 |
£5,000.01 - £20,000 | 11,773 |
Over £20,000 | 270 |
Total | 145,567 |
Table 1 - Note: Data is for England, Wales and Scotland only, and represents overpayments held with balances greater than £0.00.
Table 2 details the number of overpayments of Carer’s Allowance for the last available year (2022/23) where the reason for overpayment was recorded as earnings over the Carer’s Allowance limit. The actual amount of earnings received is not captured. The bandwidths used therefore relate to the amount overpaid.
Overpayment Value | Number of overpayments (2022/23) |
£0.01 - £500 | 7,121 |
£500.01 - £1,000 | 7,271 |
£1,000.01 - £5,000 | 11,476 |
£5,000.01 - £20,000 | 835 |
Over £20,000 | 36 |
Total | 26,739 |
Table 2 - Note: Data includes devolved overpayments from Scotland but excludes Northern Ireland.
Table 3 details the number of overpayments of Carer’s Allowance there have been in relation to the earnings conditions for the past 5 years.
Going further back, the data excludes overpayments fully repaid – details of which are archived after 14 months and fully deleted after 7 years, which does not allow for a true figure to be calculated. Data includes devolved overpayments from Scotland.
Financial Years | Volume of Overpayments |
2018/19 | 25,761 |
2019/20 | 39,502 |
2020/21 | 19,742 |
2021/22 | 35,965 |
2022/23 | 26,739 |
Total | 186,268 |
Table 3
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are repaying overpayments of carer's allowance; and what the total value being repaid is.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As of 13th April 2021, 42,400 people were repaying Carer’s Allowance overpayments.
The total original value of those debts was just over £138million; the total amount currently outstanding is £89million.
The Department has a duty to recover overpaid benefits as quickly and efficiently as possible, but it is not intended that the recovery of an overpayment should cause any customer undue financial hardship.
Overpayment recovery of Carer’s Allowance, as with all benefits is subject to various legislative limitations and safeguards.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March to Question 156242 on Carer's Allowance: Overpayments, what information her Department holds on the starting date and durations of the overpayments of Carer’s Allowance first identified in (a) 2018-19, (b) 2019-20 and (c) 2020-21.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government recognises and appreciates the vital role unpaid carers play in supporting loved ones who are ill, frail or disabled.
The Carer’s Allowance debts referred to Debt Management in each of the last 3 years, reflect individual overpayments; the starting dates and durations will therefore vary accordingly.
However, the average lengths of the recoverable Carer’s Allowance overpayments referred to Debt Management in each of the requested years was as follows:
| 2018/2019 | 2019/2020 | 2020/2021 YTD |
Average Length (Days) | 164 | 213 | 135 |
I can also confirm that the median start dates for those overpayments were:
| 2018/2019 | 2019/2020 | 2020/2021 YTD |
Median Start Date | 06/11/2017 | 17/12/2018 | 09/12/2019 |
These overpayments have arisen in the main because changes have not been reported on time. DWP takes every care to explain a claimant’s responsibilities when they apply for Carer’s Allowance; this includes the need to report changes on time. The Department has improved Carer’s Allowance communications to make this even clearer.
New technology and additional staffing have now made it easier to identify and prevent overpayments.
Notes:
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have been asked to repay overpayments of carer's allowance in each of the last five years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The number of people asked to repay new overpayments of Carer’s Allowance, as referred to Debt Management between April 2016 and January 2021, is set out in the table below:
Financial Year | Volume |
2016/2017 | 17.5k |
2017/2018 | 13.0k |
2018/2019 | 37.6k |
2019/2020 | 51.9k |
2020/2021 YTD | 11.5k |
Total | 131.5k |
Asked by: Neil Gray (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have been prosecuted for Carer's Allowance (a) overpayments and (b) wrongful payment in the last 10 years.
Answered by Will Quince
To provide this information would incur a disproportionate cost to the Department.
The Department would only seek to prosecute an individual where there was strong evidence to suggest that the individual had committed benefit fraud.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of unprocessed change in circumstance notifications which led to the over-payment of carer's allowance.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
There is no estimate. When we receive a notification of change, consideration is given as to whether the change will affect the benefit. Where it does, action is taken to prevent an overpayment, or to stop an overpayment. Once the customer has notified us of a change in their circumstances, any delay in actioning that notification would be official error and would not be recoverable from the customer.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
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.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
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.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the rate of penalties charged in cases of over payment of Carers Allowance were in each of the last five years.
Answered by Sarah Newton
DWP can impose a £50 Civil Penalty for claimant error where enquiries show that a claimant has failed to provide accurate information as part of their benefit claim or in connection with an award of benefit, they have not taken reasonable steps to correct the error and their action has resulted in an overpayment of over £65.
An Administrative Penalty may be offered to claimants as an alternative to a prosecution where an overpayment of benefit has occurred due to an act or omission by that person and there are grounds for instituting proceedings for an offence against the person relating to the overpayment.
The minimum amount of the Administrative Penalty is £350 or 50% of the recoverable overpayment, whichever is greater, up to a maximum of £5,000.
A debtor would not be expected to repay any recoverable benefit overpayment or DWP financial penalty all at once, as repayments can be made over time.
It is not possible to provide specific Administrative Penalty rates as applied to Carer’s Allowance overpayment cases as this information is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.