Keir Starmer has called for fairer treatment of unpaid carers plunged into poverty after being forced to pay back thousands of pounds – and in some cases facing criminal prosecution – for minor breaches of benefit rules.
Last week the Guardian revealed thousands of carers had run up big debts, were given criminal records and forced to sell their homes when chased by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) over “honest mistakes” that officials could have spotted years earlier.
