£10,000 Carers Allowance Overpayment Demand

Guy500

Hi - has anyone successfully taken a case like this to tribunal and would be willing to speak to me about it?

My wife cares for our autistic son and was on carers allowance for several years until 2023, when she voluntarily came off it, as she took on more hours at that time.

Now, we've received a bill of over £10k for overpayments up to that time.  She had 2 jobs, one with fluctuating hours, so was always near the limit, but it seems she sometimes just touched over it (in 2018-19 it was by an average of 48p a week - leading to thousands now being claimed back).  We told them when we first claimed that hours were variable and asked whether we needed to report weekly, and they said no - unless there was a significant change.  There were only even small changes and it looks like she was just sometimes touching on the limit.

We've had the mandatory reconsideration back, and they just kept to the same figure, ignoring the pertinent points we made and responding only to those points where they could come back and say it was our responsiblity to report.  They had also recommended when we called that they recalculate on an annual basis, as it didn't make sense to do it weekly given the fluctuating weekly income that didn't align with their benefit week dates.  They said they couldn't guarantee we wouldn't end up paying more but it was the best way.  We agreed, and later worked out that this would save us at least £2-3k, but in the final reconsideration they hadn't done this and made no mention of it.

We can't find anyone to guide us through the appeals process.  CAB are saying they will help understanding whether DWP have made an error with the figures, but if not, they would not be able to appeal on the basis of fairness (even though DWP have a legal obligation to provide a fair and accessible system, which they have clearly failed to do).  Our MP is extremely unresponsive.  If anyone here who has been through it could talk to us, that would be a great help.

HillStreetBlues

You are not the only one with this issue, have a read of this thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6572496/carers-allowance-overpayment-when-paid-calender-monthly/
As per my penultimate post in that thread, the DWP needs to take account of fluctuating wages, not ignore it because it's harder to calculate.

Guy500 said:

 They said they couldn't guarantee we wouldn't end up paying more but it was the best way.  We agreed, and later worked out that this would save us at least £2-3k, but in the final reconsideration they hadn't done this and made no mention of it.

How did you calculate it?
You have to be careful in appealing that you have calculated it correctly if not you might end up paying more.

HillsideRetired

unfortunately its either black or its white with the DWP . there appears to be no .. its only a few pounds over , thats alright approach . 
on the weeks you are over you will ultimately have to repay . as many are finding out with the big focus on it by the DWP