DWP waives £1,300 penalty for unpaid carer threatened with fraud prosecution

Clemency Jacques and son Alex. She was offered choice of paying charge or risking police arrest after inadvertently breaching benefit rules. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian

An unpaid carer threatened with prosecution for fraud after inadvertently breaching benefit rules has had a £1,300 penalty waived by officials after her case appeared in the Guardian.

Clemency Jacques, who cares for her disabled son and elderly mother, said she was given the choice of paying the charge or risking police arrest and a court appearance after running up a £2,600 carer’s allowance overpayment.