Carer's allowance is paid to people who provide at least 35 hours of care a week to someone receiving a qualifying disability benefit. The independent review led by Liz Sayce, published on GOV.UK and updated on 13 April 2026, said the payment was GBP83.30 a week and that claimants in paid work faced an earnings threshold of GBP196 a week after tax, National Insurance and expenses.
The political issue is not only whether individual claimants reported changes. The Sayce review found that earnings-related overpayments were caused by systemic problems that prevented carers from fulfilling their reporting duties. It said DWP guidance and communications had not clearly and consistently defined what carers needed to report, especially where earnings fluctuated.
The review said DWP figures provided to Parliament in February 2025 showed 86,900 people had outstanding carer's allowance overpayment debt because earnings exceeded the limit. It also said total carer's allowance overpayment debt rose from GBP150 million in 2018-19 to GBP250 million in 2023-24, while the number of people with outstanding debt rose from 80,169 to 136,730 over the same period.
Carers UK, which took part in the review process, said in a March 2026 briefing that the government had accepted or partially accepted 38 of the review's 40 recommendations. The organisation welcomed accepted measures on earnings averaging and the cliff-edge earnings rule, but said it wanted clearer delivery timetables, public scrutiny of guidance changes and stronger action on historic debts.
The new Guardian report narrows the accountability question. It described cases in which carers allegedly continued to receive payments after notifying DWP of changes, with debts later pursued or written off after media inquiries. Those are individual cases reported by the Guardian, not findings by the independent review, but they test whether ministers' response prevents new overpayments as well as reassessing old ones.