Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
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.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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.
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 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 14th 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 14th 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.
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 (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 14th 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 14th 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.
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 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.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, at what financial threshold his Department (a) starts an investigation and (b) seeks overpayment recovery for Carer’s Allowance.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Secretary of State has an obligation to protect public funds by tackling fraud and error and, where legislated, recover overpayments.
Specialist trained counter fraud investigators will consider a range of factors, including if a claimant is vulnerable, before starting an investigation. This includes if an overpayment is potentially above £3,000 or the person involved occupies a position of trust or has used false or forged documentation during their claim. DWP keeps these criteria under review.
Any overpayment of Carer’s Allowance that arose as a result of a failure to disclose or misrepresentation is recoverable under s.71 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992. DWP does not recover new overpayments below £65 unless they have arisen due to fraud.
The Department is committed to negotiating affordable and sustainable repayment plans that do not cause undue financial hardship. We will work with anyone who is struggling with their repayment terms and encourage customers to contact DWP Debt Management. Debt Management will work with individuals to review their financial circumstances and, in most instances, a temporary reduction in their rate of repayment can be agreed.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to prevent large value overpayments from accruing for Carer’s Allowance since 2019.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Overpayments are recoverable from the Carer where there is evidence that the Carer failed to timeously inform the Department of changes in circumstances. The annual benefit uprating letter issued highlights the need to report changes such and changes in earnings. The Department also uses data from HMRC to indicate where the customer may have had a change in income and failed to inform us.
The Department also takes steps to avoid large scale overpayments that are not recoverable. This includes managing workloads at appropriate levels so changes in circumstance are processed timeously.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many overpayments his Department is seeking to recover for Carer’s Allowance due to (a) breaches to the earnings limit, (b) exceeding the limit for breaks from caring role in a given period, (c) not caring for 35 hours per week ,(d) other, (e) a combination of reasons and (f) overall.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We recognise the significant contribution of carers to supporting those most in need, which is why we have increased Carer's Allowance by almost £1,500 since 2010.
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.
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. 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.
The information requested has been provided in the table below.
Carer’s Allowance overpayment reason | Volume of overpayments as at 25 April 2024 |
Earnings over CA Limit | 107.6k |
Break in care | 3.6k |
Ceased to care/ Not Caring from Outset | 23.2k |
Other | 18.9k |
Total | 153.3k |
Note that the overpayment reasons for which you have requested breakdowns do not directly align with our Debt Manager system’s overpayment categories. We have provided the reasons which most closely reflect those requested. We are unable to provide data for overpayments caused by “a combination of reasons”, as this is not a category available/ recorded by DWP. Overpayments with values of £0.00 have been excluded. Data is taken as a snapshot as at 25 April 2024 and the figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.
The 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: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many alerts from the Verified Earnings and Pensions service informing his Department of carers’ earnings information were (a) passed and (b) not passed on to carers in each of the last five years; and whether he has made an assessment of the effectiveness of VEPs in preventing large value overpayments for Carer's Allowance.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Rounded | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
The number of CA cases identified through the VEP system | 91,000 | 73,000 | 96,000 | 107,000 | 67,000 |
The number of cases reviewed by CA | 35,000 | 38,000 | 46,000 | 50,000 | 35,000 |
Overpayments are recoverable from the Carer where there is evidence that the Carer failed to timeously inform the Department of changes in circumstances. The annual benefit uprating letter issued highlights the need to report changes such and changes in earnings. The Department also uses data from HMRC to indicate where the customer may have had a change in income and failed to inform us.
The Department also takes steps to avoid large scale overpayments that are not recoverable. This includes managing workloads at appropriate levels so changes in circumstance are processed timeously.
Caveats