In a shocking revelation, a senior civil servant at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been found to have placed the blame for the carers’ allowance benefit crisis on the very victims it has affected. Neil Couling, the director general of DWP services, claimed in an internal blog post that individual failings by carers were “at the heart” of the issue, despite an independent review finding that longstanding and “unacceptable” systemic problems within the DWP were the root cause.
The review, conducted by disability rights expert Liz Sayce, concluded that senior DWP leaders had failed for over a decade to address the problems with the carers’ allowance benefit, despite repeated warnings from whistleblowers, auditors, and MPs. The report found that the confusing and complex rules surrounding the benefit had left many carers feeling “at the whim of a faceless machine,” with some even contemplating suicide due to the stress and shame of being caught up in the system.
However, Couling’s blog post suggested that the overpayments were ultimately the result of carers failing to report fluctuations in their earnings that breached the benefit’s rules. This stance directly contradicts the government’s own position, which acknowledges that the DWP’s confusing guidance and unclear reporting processes were the primary cause of the overpayments.
The backlash to Couling’s comments has been swift, with charities and politicians expressing outrage. Kirsty McHugh, the chief executive of Carers Trust, said the blog post “seems to be a really serious error of judgment” and called for the DWP to stand by the Sayce report’s findings. Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, went even further, saying he was “disgusted” by Couling’s post and that it showed “some senior DWP people have learned nothing about the scale of the misery their policies and procedures inflicted.”
In response to the crisis, the government has announced that it will reassess some of the overpayments issued to carers over the past 10 years, with an estimated 26,000 cases likely to have debts cancelled or reduced. However, the damage done to the trust and confidence of those relying on the carers’ allowance benefit may take much longer to repair.
As the DWP works to address the failings highlighted in the Sayce review, it is clear that a fundamental shift in mindset and a renewed commitment to supporting the vital role of unpaid carers is needed to prevent such a crisis from happening again.
