The government has launched a six week call for evidence on modernising the earnings limit for carer's allowance. The aim is to reduce the impact of the current cliff edge and improve predictability for carers whose income fluctuates.
The long-overdue move comes after the publication of the Sayce review in November 2025, which found that many overpayments of carer’s allowance were caused by unclear and sometimes incorrect guidance issued by the DWP, which meant that carers did not know what they needed to report and when.
The report contained many examples of the distress suffered by carers caught up in the overpayment scandal.
A carer who unknowingly accumulated £14k of debt spoke of her experience:
“I was caring for my daughter who’d been excluded from school and was later sectioned. I was made to feel like a thief. We’re not. I claimed what I thought I was entitled to. We need more help, it needs to be caught earlier.”
Some carers who thought they were staying within the rules by averaging their earnings discovered too late that they were not:
“It’s mission impossible. I’m a care worker, I thought I wouldn’t work half term so would work more the week before. I’ve never been over the limit for the year – I checked all my P60s and sent payslips. All of a sudden they’re going back 8 years. I can’t understand their calculation.”
In spite of all the evidence of the department’s failings, the DWP continues to hound carers. As reported in April, it is continuing to pursue claimants for debts at the same time as it reviews the same cases because they may have been affected by incorrect guidance.
In January 2026, the DWP rushed out 1,400 demands for repayment of overpayments caused by averaging rules, even though they knew that those same rules had now been found to be unlawful.
Many of the affected claimants are likely to be repaid any sums they are currently being forced to hand over to the DWP. In total, 22,500 more overpayment notices have been issued since the Sayce review was published.
Neil Couling, director general of DWP services, published a blog post after the conclusions of the Sayce report were released, in which he insisted that it was essentially claimants’ own fault that they had ended up in such distress.
Today’s call for evidence will make no difference to the fact that many carers have already suffered harm as a result of unfair, unclear rules and DWP incompetence. But it could be the first step towards improving matters for carers in the future.
The call for evidence asks questions like:
How could the system be improved to better support carers with fluctuating earnings? Should the Department look to put in place more predictable ways of averaging earnings or keep the current approach?
Would averaging earnings over short, fixed periods help carers? For example, always averaging earnings over a period of 8 weeks or 16 weeks. If yes, what might be the best period of weeks?
If Carer’s Allowance were reduced gradually as earnings increase (an earnings taper), which approach would you prefer?
Allowing people to earn more before Carer’s Allowance starts to reduce, but then reducing it more quickly
Starting to reduce Carer’s Allowance at a lower level of earnings, but reducing it more gradually
The call for evidence is open to individuals and organisations. It closes on 18 August.
You can access the call for evidence here.
The online form is here.
If you prefer not to use the online form, you can email your response to:
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