Challenging Carers Allowance - please sign the petition
Carer Poverty Coalition- Petition on Carers Allowance Reform and Overpayments
You may have seen a lot in the news recently about Carers Allowance – both how pitifully small it remains and who can get it, but also some appalling stories about overpayments, and carers being hounded for debts they didn’t realise they were incurring, as reported by The Guardian.
We are part of the Carer Poverty Alliance – of many of the UK’s carer organisations. And there are actions to take to help improve things.
Petition for reform of Carer’s Allowance and action on overpayments
Carer’s Allowance overpayments are making upsetting media headlines. In response to parliamentary questions, the Government has revealed it is attempting to recoup Carer’s Allowance overpayments from 156,000 unpaid carers, with around 11,600 of these carers involving carers with debts of over £5,000.
People are rightly very angry about this situation. The next step is for everyone to sign (and share) a petition to government, both to improve Carer’s Allowance (its design, amount, and criteria for receiving it) as well as to urgently reduce overpayments.
If the petition gets to 10,000 signatures there is a good chance of securing secure another parliamentary debate on the issue before the General Election.
Review and Reform Carer’s Allowance Petition
Have you been overpaid?
The Carers Poverty Alliance is gathering evidence around the cases of those who have been overpaid Carers Allowance.
If you have experienced a Carer’s Allowance overpayment and would be happy to share your story with the Alliance, please complete this short survey.
The evidence will be anonymised, then shared with the Government and other senior parliamentarians – to demonstrate the devastating impact overpayments can have on carers’ lives.
Updates on parliamentary activity
On Monday 22 April, a debate was held in parliament on Carer’s Allowance. MPs from different parties spoke about the urgent need for Carer’s Allowance to be reformed, with all the policy changes the Alliance has called for, being raised. You can watch the debate back here, or access a transcript here.
And the DWP Minister, Mims Davies MP, was questioned by the Work and Pensions Select Committee about Carer’s Allowance and overpayments on 24 April. You can watch this session back here.
We’ll keep you updated.