"Hundreds of thousands of vulnerable unpaid carers will have their cases reassessed after a damning official review concluded they had been left with huge debts because of government failure and maladministration. The review, due to be published on Tuesday, was triggered after a year-long Guardian investigation revealed how carers had been hit with draconian penalties of as much as 20,000 relating to carer's allowance. Some were plunged into hardship, others were jailed."
"Ministers have promised to cancel or reduce penalties that were wrongly issued after the review concluded many were the result of official error rather than wilful rule-breaking. However, the government has stopped short of offering compensation to those affected. It is understood compensation was both considered by the review and by ministers but is not one of the published recommendations of the review, headed by disability policy expert Liz Sayce."
"The stress, ill-health and anxiety endured by carers who were pushed into debt and hardship by carer's allowance failures emerged in a series of Guardian articles over the past 20 months. Many carers said they were harassed and treated like criminals by DWP staff. Hundreds were convicted of benefit fraud. It remains unclear what will happen to carers convicted of benefit fraud as a result of official mistakes."
Hundreds of thousands of unpaid carers will have carer's allowance overpayment cases reassessed after a review found widespread government failure and maladministration that left many with large debts. A year-long investigation revealed draconian penalties up to 20,000, plunging some carers into hardship and resulting in convictions and imprisonment for some. Ministers have pledged to cancel or reduce wrongly issued penalties and have accepted most of the review's 40 recommendations, but they will not offer compensation. The review, led by disability policy expert Liz Sayce, prompted a promise to reassess overpayments dating back to 2015 and to reform enforcement practices.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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