"Repeated failures by Tory ministers and top welfare officials pushed hundreds of thousands of unpaid carers into debt and distress, and led to hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money being wasted, a devastating review has concluded. The independent review of carer's allowance benefit overpayments identified systemic issues at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and said carers could not be blamed for falling foul of unclear and confusing benefit rules."
"The review was triggered after a Guardian investigation revealed how carers had been hit with draconian penalties of as much as 20,000 after unwittingly and unfairly running up overpayments of the carer's allowance. Liz Sayce, the disability rights expert and author of the review, said problems with carer's allowance led to injustice and poor use of public money and had affected carers' health, finances and careers."
"She blamed repeated failures by top DWP officials over a decade to fix the problems. Overpayments over many years at this scale and impact, with missed opportunities to resolve them, are entirely unacceptable. They are an inappropriate use of taxpayers' money, which has involved using public money for a purpose not intended, and then incurring further cost to attempt to recover it, she wrote."
Repeated failures by ministers and welfare officials pushed hundreds of thousands of unpaid carers into debt and distress and resulted in hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money being wasted. Systemic issues at the Department for Work and Pensions created unclear and confusing benefit rules that prevented carers from meeting reporting responsibilities. Many carers faced severe penalties after unwittingly accruing overpayments, affecting their health, finances and careers. Ministers announced reassessments and cancellations or reductions of debts for many affected carers, but no recommendation for compensation for those deeply harmed was included.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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