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 three years.
Answered by Paul Maynard
Claimants have a responsibility to ensure they are entitled to benefits they claim and to inform the DWP of any changes in their circumstances that could impact their award. For Carer’s Allowance, eligibility is partly dependent upon claimants earning £151 or less a week after tax, National Insurance and allowable expenses.
Where overpayments do occur, the Department has a duty to the taxpayer to protect public funds and to ask for money to be paid back. However, we seek to do so without causing excessive hardship. We remain committed to working with anyone who is struggling with their repayment terms and will always look to negotiate sustainable and affordable repayment plans.
Our most recent statistics show that Carer's Allowance overpayments relating to earnings/employment represents 2.1% of our £3.3bn Carer’s Allowance expenditure.
The information requested has been provided in the table below.
Financial Year | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Volume of Carer’s Allowance (CA) Debts | 36.1k | 30.7k | 34.5k |
The above data 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.
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 FTE staff in his Department have been working on overpayments in respect of Carer’s Allowance and its earnings conditions in each of last 10 years; and whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of those staffing numbers in supporting this function.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Carers Allowance has a commitment to action any debt case once identified within 56 days. The resourcing of this work can vary in line with demand and competing priorities.
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, what the average length of time is that overpayment debts in respect of earnings conditions of Carer’s Allowance have been outstanding providing figures for the last year available.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Carers Allowance has a commitment to action any debt case once identified within 56 days. The resourcing of this work can vary in line with demand and competing priorities.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.