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

Senior DWP civil servant blames victims for carer’s allowance scandal

DWP CA Liz Sayce Peter Schofield
Senior DWP leaders have failed for at least a decade to remedy problems with carer’s allowance benefit, despite repeated warnings.
Senior DWP leaders have failed for at least a decade to remedy problems with carer’s allowance benefit, despite repeated warnings. Photograph: Islandstock/Alamy

One of the most senior civil servants in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has placed the blame for the carer’s allowance benefits crisis on victims, many of whom have been left with life-changing debts.

In an internal blogpost written for Whitehall colleagues, Neil Couling, the director general of DWP services, said individual failings by carers were “at the heart” of the issue that has been likened to the Post Office Horizon scandal.

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