I felt physically sick after being told I owe £20,000 in overpaid benefits – I’ll be paying it back for 34 years
A MUM has explained how she was left feeling “physically sick” after being told she owed £20,000 in overpaid benefits.
Diane Marchand, who lives in Glasgow, was told by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) that she must repay the sum after it was found she had received too much in carer’s allowance.
She received the benefit to support her while caring for her son, Fraser, who is 26 and has autism.
But Diane is now one of tens of thousands forced to pay back huge sums after unknowingly breaching the rules, which have been described as unfairly complicated.
Carer’s allowance is paid to those providing at least 35 hours of unpaid care a week, in most cases to disabled or sick relatives.
It is currently paid at a weekly rate of £81.90 and anyone on the benefit is allowed to have a second income from a job.
However, you can’t earn more than £151 a week, or you lose all of your benefit allowance.
This is a different approach to other benefits, like Universal Credit, which has a tapered approach to earnings so that those who do work don’t lose all of their money at once.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which pays the benefit, also looks to get any overpaid benefits back.
Alongside caring for Fraser, Diane worked part-time as a dinner lady and was paid by her local council.
Occasionally, she would receive backdated pay, which would unknowingly push her over the earnings threshold.
She told BBC Newsnight: “I just thought how am I ever going to pay that money back?
“I work part-time and I’ve only ever worked part-time so I can look after my son, so it was a shock to say the least.”
Diane received a phone call from the DWP telling her that she owed £20,000 in overpayments.
She has also been fined £50 for failing to tell the DWP about the change in her circumstances and earnings.
But she told the BBC that nothing had changed and that she was still caring for her son while working part-time.
What is carer's allowance?
CARER'S allowance is a UK benefit designed to help people who have caring responsibilities for more than 35 hours each week.
Those eligible get £81.90 a week paid directly into bank accounts.
To qualify, the person you care for must already get one of these benefits:
- Personal independence payment (PIP) – daily living component
- Disability living allowance – the middle or highest care rate
- Attendance allowance
- Constant attendance allowance at or above the normal maximum rate with an Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
- Constant attendance allowance at the basic (full day) rate with a war disablement pension
- Armed forces independence payment
You don’t have to be related to the person or live with them to apply.
But if you share caring responsibilities with someone else, only one of you can make a claim.
The type of care you provide can vary, but includes things such as helping with washing or cooking, taking the person to medical appointments or helping out with household tasks such as shopping or organising bills.
To get the benefit, you must also meet a certain set of criteria:
- You must be 16 or over
- You have to spend at least 35 hours a week caring for someone
- You need to have been in England, Scotland or Wales for at least two of the last three years (this does not apply if you’re a refugee or have humanitarian protection status)
- You must normally live in England, Scotland or Wales or live abroad as a member of the armed forces (you might still be eligible if you’re moving to or already living in an EEA country or Switzerland)
- You cannot be in full-time education
- You must not be studying for 21 hours a week or more
- You cannot be subject to immigration control
- You will also have to meet certain earnings criteria in order to get the benefit.
Your earnings must also be £151 or less a week after tax, National Insurance and expenses.
You can apply for the carer’s allowance online by visiting www.gov.uk/carers-allowance/how-to-claim.
Diane is now paying back £10 a month towards the debt and according to the National Audit Office, it will take her a whopping 34-years to repay.
“When I got the phone call I felt physically sick,” Diane said.
“I felt guilty. I felt as if I was a criminal.”
She added: “I just thought, I can’t go on like this, so I no longer get carers.
“I’ve also switched to another job with more hours so I can pay more back.”
When asked if she felt responsible for the overpayments, Diane said it wasn’t “consciously” taking advantage of the system.
She said: “There’s so much going in your own life with being a carer.
“It’s supposed to be there to help you but it just makes you feel physically sick, and it’s helping nobody.”
New figures revealed that in 2022-23, 26,700 carers were asked to repay sums relating to earnings breaches.
More than 800 were repaying sums between £5,000 and £20,000, and 36 were repaying more than £20,000
There’s no time limit on how far back the DWP can go to spot erroneous carer’s allowance payments and demand money back.
It comes after a single mother from North Wales was left in tears after a demand to repay thousands of pounds she received while caring for her disabled daughter.
The parents of a teenager who had to give up work to stay at their dying daughter’s bedside have been told to pay back £8,000.
Meanwhile, a dad who looks after his ill son had to sell his home to pay back £20,000 in carer’s allowance after ticking the wrong box on a form.
What to do if you breach the earnings limit
If you breach the £151 earnings limit, you should try and proactively report it to the DWP as it is classed as a change in circumstances.
You can report any change in circumstances online via the Government’s website.
But you’ll need your National Insurance (NI) number to hand, details of the person you’re caring for and details of the change.
If you have been overpaid carer’s allowance, you will have to pay it back in full or in instalments via the DWP Debt Management platform.
This is also on the Government’s website.
If you don’t do this, the DWP can take deductions from your work salary, or even pass your case on to a debt collector.
If you don’t engage with the debt collector, it may then take your case to the county courts.
You can dispute an overpayment if you don’t agree with it, but you’ll need evidence as to why you claim not to have overpaid.
You can do this through what’s known as a “mandatory reconsideration,” which you can submit to the DWP online, by phone, or by letter.
The decision letter you receive from the DWP will contain the specific contact details to which you need to send correspondence.
Once the DWP has received your mandatory reconsideration, you will receive a “mandatory reconsideration notice” informing you whether it has changed its decision.
If you disagree with that outcome, you can appeal to the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal.
A judge will listen to both sides of the argument before making a decision.
Are you missing out on benefits?
YOU can use a benefits calculator to help check that you are not missing out on money you are entitled to
Charity Turn2Us’ benefits calculator works out what you could get.
Entitledto’s free calculator determines whether you qualify for various benefits, tax credit and Universal Credit.
MoneySavingExpert.com and charity StepChange both have benefits tools powered by Entitledto’s data.
You can use Policy in Practice’s calculator to determine which benefits you could receive and how much cash you’ll have left over each month after paying for housing costs.
Your exact entitlement will only be clear when you make a claim, but calculators can indicate what you might be eligible for.
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