Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many carers have Carer’s Allowance overpayment debt in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland.

This Government recognises and values the vital contribution made by carers in supporting some of the most vulnerable in society, including pensioners and disabled people. We are determined to provide unpaid carers with the support they need and deserve. From April 2025, the Government is boosting the Carer’s Allowance earnings threshold by £45 a week to £196, benefitting more than 60,000 carers by 2029/30. This is the biggest ever cash increase in the earnings threshold for Carer’s Allowance.

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.

We understand that providing care can be a demanding role, which is why we are trialling new ways of communicating with customers to support them in fully understanding their responsibilities to report changes in their circumstances, such as employment, including through a trial of text message reminders.

An independent review into the issue of overpayments of Carer’s Allowance in cases where earnings have exceeded the entitlement threshold has begun. The review will investigate how overpayments of Carer’s Allowance related to earnings have occurred, how we can best support those who have accrued them, and how to reduce the risk of these problems occurring in future. Timelines and terms of reference were published on Gov.uk on 9 December for reference. We expect review findings and recommendations to be submitted to the Department in early summer 2025. Liz Sayce OBE, the Independent Reviewer, is keen to hear from interested parties.

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.

Information on the volume of customers with an outstanding Carers Allowance debt and the volume of customers with a Carer’s Allowance overpayment debt as a result of breaching the earnings limit is provided below. This will include people who are no longer receiving Carers Allowance, people who are no longer carers and people who made fraudulent claims and were never entitled to carers allowance.

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.