Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 30
30
Accepted
DWP appointed Carer's Allowance service owner and cleared backlog of HMRC earnings alerts.
Conclusion
The Independent Review also found a lack of integrated, concerted leadership in relation to Carer’s Allowance overpayments. We asked the Department what it was going to do to make sure that this area got the 52 Letter from Department for Work & Pensions dated 17 December 2025 53 C&AG’s Report, Carer’s Allowance, Session 2024–25, HC 377, 11 December 2024, paras 2.3, 2.7 54 Department for Work & Pensions, Independent Review of Carer’s Allowance Overpayments, 25 November 2025 55 Q 21 56 Q 21 57 Q 24 58 Qq 21-22 15 attention and leadership it deserved going forward. The Department told us that it had made progress, but not enough. It said that it had appointed a service owner to lead across Carer’s Allowance and to own this problem. It also highlighted that it had eliminated the backlog of earnings alerts received from HM Revenue & Customs. Where previously it had funding to investigate only about 50% of alerts, over the past year it had been funded to look into every alert received and could thereby avoid people generating an overpayment and building up a debt.59 59 Q 22 16
Government Response Summary
The department has accepted 38 of the 40 recommendations set out in the Sayce review, increased the weekly Carer’s Allowance (CA) earnings limit, changed some of its guidance, will be modernising the treatment of earnings in CA to help reduce the number of overpayments occurring in future and will write to both the Public Accounts and Work and Pensions Committees every six months with a progress update.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
Target implementation date: First of rolling 6 monthly updates in September 2026. The department has accepted 38 of the 40 recommendations set out in the Sayce review and has appointed a Senior Responsible Owner to make sure it delivers on these. The department has already increased the weekly Carer’s Allowance (CA) earnings limit by a record amount; changed some of its guidance; and are working with users and carers’ organisations to make sure communications work for customers. Going forward, the government will be modernising the treatment of earnings in CA to help reduce the number of overpayments occurring in future. This is being explored through discovery work on the possibility of automating the calculation of earnings and potential solutions to reduce the impact of the current cliff edge, including exploring an earnings rule with a taper. The department will continue putting things right by reassessing affected cases, and potentially reducing, cancelling, or refunding debts for an estimated 26,000 carers. More detail on the reassessment exercise will be made public soon. In most cases, the department will contact people affected if it requires more information to conduct the reassessment. The department will write to both the Public Accounts and Work and Pensions Committees every six months with a progress update. This will enable the Committees to scrutinise progress. The department will also include information in its Annual Report and Accounts.