Carers will have to wait until at least 2030 to see an end to the deeply unfair cliff edge they face when earning over the limit for carer’s allowance, the government has announced. The DWP will take that long to introduce a new IT system, whilst carers are likely to still face recovery action and even prosecution in some cases in the meantime.
At present, earning even 1p over the weekly earnings limit of £204, after tax, national insurance and allowable expenses, results in the loss of the benefit. This, along with misleading information from the DWP, has led to thousands of carers being forced to repay overpayments they weren’t even aware of with some facing prosecution.
Under the new rules, instead of a cliff edge cut-off carers will lose £1 of carer’s allowance for every £1 they earn over the limit.
However, in a written statement chancellor John Healey revealed that the new rules won’t be introduced until 2031-31, because that is how long it will take the DWP to introduce a new IT system.
Healey told MPs in a written statement that the government will:
“End the cliff edge within Carer’s Allowance, which sees carers lose £86.45 per week for a 1p increase in earnings above the weekly limit. Instead, earnings above the Weekly Earnings Limit will be subject to a 100% taper, where support is only reduced by £1 for each £1 increase in earnings. This means carers are no longer left financially worse off for working additional hours or receiving a pay rise. The taper will begin within 2030-31 once the Department for Work and Pensions have developed a new IT system to implement the taper.”
There is no indication, however, that the government will cease to persecute carers who go over the earnings limit in the next three to four years.
