STOP THE DWP PERSECUTION!!

The Department for work and Pensions (DWP) are currently persecuting and prosecuting claimants that are claiming Carers allowance (CA) that have been overpaid. For a person to claim CA, they must provide a minimum of 35 hours of assistance to a person claiming either Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independence Payments (PIP). A carers responsibility can be anything from providing food to a loved one to helping a loved one with personal hygiene.

Currently there are 1 million people claiming the £81.90 per week benefit living in the UK.

The DWP have knowingly overpaid 1 in 5 of those claimants and are convicting carers of fraud to be able to use the proceeds of crime act to recover money that has been overpaid, in some cases wiping out inheritance, life savings and even the benefit that the carer is trying to live on.

The DWP knowingly pays out over £8bn in over-payments across all the benefits they provide annually with carers allowance accounting for 2.1% of the £8bn (£251m).

Did you know…

In 2010 the DWP launched a crackdown on claimants living abroad that were still claiming UK benefits.

In 2016 – 2021 the DWP paid a fraudulent claim to claimants living in Bulgaria, an organised crime group stole £251m which was paid to the local community in Sliven, which is located at the foothills of the Balkan Mountains. This money was used to bolster the local economy by providing construction opportunities and designer clothing to the residents of the town. It was only when a local police officer noticed the residents sporting the luxury goods and notified UK authorities of the situation that they began to investigate the finances of the residents.

The main characters in this now foiled benefit scam have been sentenced to 25 years in prison (collectively) costing UK taxpayers a further £46,696 per person per year.

So, what is the DWP doing to recover this money, should carers doing their upmost to provide for loved ones who can’t afford to be put into a care home be punished when the DWP are knowingly paying out this money to residents of other countries, why are the DWP getting convictions in court for people who need the benefit that they are claiming?

The DWP states that for a carer to be able to claim the CA benefit, a carer must “work” for a minimum of 35 hours per week, the definition of the word work is a physical or mental effort directed towards doing or making something. paid employment at a job or a trade, occupation, or profession

If the DWP are paying carers for the work they do, then the DWP should be bound over by the law. ACAS is a non-departmental public body who provides free impartial advice to employers and employees state that if you are overpaid by an employer, which in this instance the DWP should be as they are paying for a service to be provided, should follow certain rules. In cases where an overpayment has been made, the first person to notice the over-payment is the first person to notify the other party that the over-payment has occurred.

The employer (DWP) should contact the person who has been affected by the over-payment to make a payment arrangement with them to repay the money, and be fair and flexible when recovering the over-payment.

The DWP has technology that communicates with other agencies to inform them of any situations that have occurred where someone has been overpaid their benefits.

Did you know..

In the tax years 2021-22 the highest awarded over-payment of UK benefits was £70,000, in the tax years 2022-2023 the highest awarded overpayment was £40,000, and in 2023-2024 that amount rose to £50,000.

In a very large number of the cases that have been reported in the UK newspapers recently, the DWP have known that these overpayments have occurred, and nothing has been done until now, why?

Is it because the UK government have found a black hole in their finances of between £30-40bn, is it because its easier to victimise older people who are too scared to fight for their rights to be able to survive, or maybe its just because the DWP do not care about the person making the claim for benefits?

It is time to call upon the DWP to explain the reason behind the failure to communicate to the victims of these over-payments, it is time to get the government to act on behalf of those that are already in poverty to stop the DWP from ensuring convictions for fraud because of an error that they could have stopped from becoming so serious, and it is time to ensure that the Department for Work and Pensions are held accountable for their in actions.

All information is available on the internet at various sources and was correct at the time of publication.