Hundreds of thousands of cars have been hit with unpaid fines as a result of scrapping rules for minor car sales in the five years after senior officials promised to fix the offending utility, an official audit has revealed.
Dispatchers from the National Audit Office (NAO) said the report highlighted the scale of the misery and work inflicted on cars over the period as well as the extent of the failure by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to tackle payments.
More than 262,000 borrowers were given payments exceeding £325m by carers who had more unknowingly – they sadly missed out on food allowances, while 600 carers were charged and reported with criminal records after DWP civil servants reported their cases to the Crown Prosecution Service. .
Charities and MPs have revealed the police report that the DWP’s failure to properly staff its food shortages and electronic defects in the benefits scheme has left thousands of carers in financial difficulties and emotional distress.
A Keeper of the investigation This year it was revealed how Conservative officials have allowed payments to grow for years virtually unscathed, despite senior officials promised by MPs in 2019 to solve the problem of new technology-composition.
There are currently more than 134,500 carers with outstanding debt payments of more than £251m after the scandalous fallout of rules on “cliff-edge” earnings limits. A carer who earned more than the threshold of £151 for 52 weeks must pay not 52 but 4,258.80.
The NAO’s report revealed steps in food processing in the food service unit were designed to meet internal financial targets rather than to prevent defaulters from inadvertently running out of money.
As a result, only half of the total number of emails identifying potential overpayment benefits are investigated each year. The number of staff to check sums and investigate cases has been cut by 14% over two years.
The DWP has repeatedly refused to accept that it has a responsibility to identify all wage gaps or set individuals up for potential overpayments, arguing that the onus is on the legal profession to inform them of any changes that could affect their eligibility for car insurance.
On average, family carers – most of whom are in poverty – had overpayments of nearly £1,000 last year, though The guard revealed Since April two cases of more than £20,000 in overpayments have come, suggesting the DWP has been unable to spot the collapse for almost five years.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: “It is appalling that so many family car owners have been caught up in this scandal by their own party, the DWP. This caused miseries and distress to wander on the scale.
Vivienne’s fiancéA former unpaid carer who pursued fraud and had his mother’s £16,000 inheritance seized by the DWP after she unknowingly ran into car benefits has said it is disgraceful that the DWP is still dragging cars through the courts.
“We must stand,” he said. “I just feel sorry for all those who come after me who end up losing their house or their car.”
Helen Walker, chief executive Carers UK, said the NAO report shows a “serious failure” to act by the DWP which “leaves thousands of carers experiencing emotional distress and financial hardship for years”.
Dominic Carter, director of policy and public affairs at the Carers Trust, said: “This vital report makes clear that too many people are being allowed to suffer because of their broken career debts.
Stephen Timms, Minister for Social Security and Disability, said: “This report sets out the scale of the challenge and highlights the importance of our independent review into solutions so we can make the system fairer for thousands of carers.
“Carers deserve to be supported, that’s why we’re winning the threshold, more than 60,000 people will benefit, while our review will get to the bottom of the problem, so we can protect motorists from unfair debt and protect the Treasury’s money.”
The reviewFrom next summer’s report, they will see why overpayments are out of control, how they can be prevented, and how best to support the carers who fall behind the system.