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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Patrick Butler Social policy editor

Many carers hit with demands to repay more than £20,000 despite reforms

Woman walking a dog alongside another woman in an electric wheelchair.
Carers were asked to repay £33m in 2025-26 as a result of DWP overpayments, new figures show. Photograph: Cultura Creative/Getty Images/Tetra images RF

Scores of unpaid carers were hit with demands to repay sums of more than £20,000 and hundreds more put at risk of prosecution last year as a result of official failures in what appear to be continuing problems with carer’s allowance.

New figures showed carers were asked to repay £33m in 2025-26 as a result of 32,559 earnings-related overpayments, despite the introduction of measures over a year ago designed specifically to prevent carers falling foul of the system.

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