Carers Told They Owe Money Might Wait Until 2054 to Get It Back

Carers who were wrongly told they owe the government money could wait until 2054 to get it sorted, charities have warned.

The warning is about a two-year review that started in April. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which pays benefits, is checking 200,000 cases where carers were wrongly given overpayments. Overpayments are payments the DWP later says should not have been paid. About 25,000 carers could get full or partial refunds, according to figures reported by The Guardian.

The queue is long. Official figures showed 144,000 carers were still paying back debts from past years. New debts keep adding up. More than 30,000 further overpayments were made in 2025-26, including 78 for over £20,000.

An official review concluded DWP mistakes caused hundreds of thousands of people to build up debts as high as £20,000 without knowing. The DWP largely failed to warn carers in time when their pay went over the earnings limit. That limit is the weekly pay cap for keeping the benefit. The failure was documented by the BBC. Carers who care for family unpaid while doing part-time work with changing hours are most at risk of going over the limit.

The current review looks at cases where the DWP did not let carers with changing pay average their income over a year. Averaging means looking at typical pay across weeks. Without it, one good week of pay can trigger an overpayment even if normal pay stays within the rules. Think of it like judging your normal sleep from one late night.

The review also found the DWP charged 1,400 carers with breaking the rules even though it knew the decisions used faulty guidance that had been discredited. When the DWP issues an overpayment, it often adds a £50 civil penalty, a fine for negligence, according to the independent review of overpayments. Ministers have admitted penalties will continue while the review of more than 200,000 cases is carried out.

Unpaid carers affected by unclear guidance may have debts reduced, cancelled or refunded under the fix set out by the government. The UK Government said it would accept key recommendations of the independent Sayce review on carer's allowance. An inquiry was announced in October 2024 after carers were forced to repay overpayments. Sir Stephen Timms, Minister for Social Security and Disability, launched a six-week call for evidence on carer's allowance in July.

The broader context here is a fix running up against limits. A review meant to cancel wrong debts is slowed by staff numbers, complex cases and new overpayments still coming in. The 2054 date is less a plan than a speed check. It shows refunds being found far more slowly than debts were first charged.

Looking at what this means for policy, three pressures now meet. The first is pay-back for the 25,000 cases where refunds are expected. The second is prevention, including pay alerts, averaging rules and clear guidance staff can use the same way each time. The third is punishment during the fix, especially continued fines and debt collection while old cases are still being checked. How the DWP orders those jobs will decide whether the review ends the scandal or drags it out.