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.<\/p>
<\/p>
Where overpayments do occur due to not being entitled to the benefit, 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.<\/p>
<\/p>
Our most recent statistics show that Carer's Allowance overpayments relating to earnings/employment represents just 2.1% of our £3.3bn Carer\u2019s Allowance expenditure.<\/p>
<\/p>
The information requested has been provided in the table below. To avoid potentially disclosing personal information, we have bucketed the values requested.<\/p>
<\/p>
Highest Value Carer\u2019s Allowance Overpayment<\/strong><\/p><\/td> 2021/22<\/strong><\/p><\/td> 2022/23<\/strong><\/p><\/td> 2023/24<\/strong><\/p><\/td><\/tr> Total<\/strong><\/p><\/td> £60-70k<\/p><\/td> £30-40k<\/p><\/td> £40-50k<\/p><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table> <\/strong><\/p> 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.<\/p> <\/p> Note that the values represent the original overpayment amount when raised on Debt Manager. As the year relates to when the overpayment was raised as a debt for recovery, it does not necessarily relate to the period as to when benefit was overpaid. The overpayments above all span periods of many years.<\/p> <\/p> Note that the data provided is for all categories of overpayment. It is not necessarily the case that these overpayments arose due to claimants breaching the earnings limit.<\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/3926", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Paul Maynard"}
}
, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Blackpool North and Cleveleys"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Paul Maynard"}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2024-05-01", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2024-05-01T15:33:32.713Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
]}
, "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "29"}
, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Work and Pensions"}
, "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Work and Pensions"}
, "date" : {"_value" : "2024-04-23", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Carer's Allowance: Overpayments"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
}
], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the highest value overpayment has been for Carer\u2019s Allowance in the (a) 2021-22, (b) 2022-23 and (c) 2023-24 financial years.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4488", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Martyn Day"}
}
, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Linlithgow and East Falkirk"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Martyn Day"}
], "uin" : "23253"}
, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1713127", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Work and Pensions"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1713127/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " This Government recognises and appreciates the vital contribution made by informal carers. With respect to full-time education, the Government believes that this should be supported by the educational maintenance system. That is why, as a general principle, full-time students are precluded from entitlement to income-related and income-maintenance benefits, including Carer\u2019s Allowance.<\/p> Educational institutions decide which young people receive bursaries or other support and determine the level of financial support they receive. They develop their own eligibility criteria for access to the discretionary bursary fund, including setting a household income threshold appropriate to their area, and must publish this information for their students. Arrangements may differ across the United Kingdom.<\/p> In England, for example, over £160 million of bursary funding has been allocated in the 2023/24 academic year to institutions to help disadvantaged 16- to 19-year-olds with the costs of taking part in education. This is nearly 12% higher than published allocations for last year. The Department for Education has also made available £20 million each year in England specifically to support students in defined vulnerable groups.<\/p> Carer\u2019s Allowance is a devolved benefit in Scotland.<\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4513", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mims Davies"}
}
, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Mid Sussex"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mims Davies"}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2024-05-01", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2024-05-01T16:44:16.333Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
]}
, "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "29"}
, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Work and Pensions"}
, "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Work and Pensions"}
, "date" : {"_value" : "2024-04-23", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Carer's Allowance: Students"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
}
], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of removing the 21 hour study rule from the eligibility criteria for Carer\u2019s Allowance.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4488", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Martyn Day"}
}
, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Linlithgow and East Falkirk"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Martyn Day"}
], "uin" : "23254"}
], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 2, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]}
}
|