The Guardian's Patrick Butler and Josh Halliday won the Paul Foot award for their investigative reporting on British carers wrongly prosecuted for benefit overpayments. They revealed that many carers unknowingly violated earnings rules while trying to report their income to the DWP. Since the introduction of the VEP tool in 2019, which was meant to prevent these issues, many carers faced criminal charges despite their innocence. The DWP acknowledged some convictions were mistakes. Labour has launched an independent review and raised the earnings limit for the allowance as a response to these injustices.
This is a story about injustices in the benefits system and how these injustices have inflicted debt, misery and untold stress on some of the most vulnerable and poorest people in our society who have dedicated their lives to looking after loved ones.
When you speak to these people it really affects you. This is devastating sums of money, people who are already living extremely difficult lives, trying to do their best, coping with the consequences of a flawed system.
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