The UK Government is considering the rollout of a text message service to stop people on Carer’s Allowance breaking income threshold rules for the benefit, which has resulted in some claimants having to pay back thousands of pounds to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
During the DWP oral questions session in Parliament on Monday, Minister for Social Security and Disabilities, Sir Stephen Timms told MPs that the Department was reviewing ways to stop carers getting too much from the system, which can happen when people’s weekly earnings exceed the benefit income threshold of £151.
Sir Stephen said: “The work of unpaid carers is absolutely vital and often heroic. We are determined to give unpaid carers the support they need. We are looking at the moment at options on tackling the problem with overpayments, including the possible introduction of a text alert service.”
Labour MP Alison Hume said: “Carers make incredible sacrifices to care for loved ones, but they can be left deep in debt, repaying Carer’s Allowance after unintentionally breaching the qualifying rules. Does my honourable friend agree that as a society we have a duty of care to carers?”
Sir Stephen replied: “We want to get to the bottom of what has gone wrong with these overpayments and why so many people have been caught out.
“We have been piloting the introduction of a text message service, that involves texting 3,500 claimants to alert them when HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) informs the DWP that the claimant has breached the current earnings limit.”
“We are currently looking at the results, and if they are positive, that will be the first step towards addressing the overpayments problem. We will need to do more, but it will be a good first step.”
Labour MP Anna Dixon also urged the UK Government to consider raising the earnings limit for people on Carer’s Allowance to ensure people, like the 1,200 claimants in her Shipley constituency, are not left “vulnerable to accidentally accruing overpayments” if they become ineligible for the benefit.
She also said the weekly earnings threshold of £151 “acts as a disincentive, deterring people from working as much as they would like to”.
Sir Stephen responded: “My hon. Friend has written to me about this matter, and I welcome her commitment to making progress. In an excellent piece of work, the former Work and Pensions Committee made a number of recommendations on the earnings rules, and once the new Committee is in place, we shall respond to the former Committee’s proposals.”
Sir Stephen previously held the post of the Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee before the election.
Commenting on the test message service proposal, Carers Trust’s Director of Policy and Public Affairs, Dominic Carter, said: “The introduction of text alerts doesn’t go anywhere near solving the problems of the broken Carer’s Allowance system. The Government needs to go much further by fixing this outdated, completely inadequate benefit. Its complex eligibility criteria and low income threshold are causing carers huge problems that no text message can ever address.
” We hope to see a much more detailed plan from the Government on how they’ll overhaul it without continuing to heap extra responsibility on the shoulders of busy carers.”
Carer’s Allowance is worth £81.90 each week to people providing 35 hours of unpaid care to friends, family members or a neighbour.