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  "path": "/money/dwp-accused-of-risking-carers-job-over-benefit-debt",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-20T15:50:52.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "DWP warning as over a million pensioners miss out on benefit worth up to £458 every month",
    "DWP crisis as nearly £10BILLION lost to benefit payment fraud and errors",
    "DWP benefits crackdown: Universal Credit, PIP and Pension Credit among payments under fraud",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nA woman who provides full-time care for her disabled mother has accused the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) of putting her job and professional reputation at risk.\n\nIt comes after officials pursued her employer over a benefit debt that had already been dismissed by a tribunal judge.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe 44-year-old, who remains anonymous, told the Guardian she was left \"frightened and exhausted\" after the DWP contacted her employer earlier this month demanding salary deductions to recover an alleged universal credit overpayment worth £163.73.\n\nThe supposed debt had already been formally quashed by a first-tier tribunal in September 2022 following an appeal brought by her.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nDespite the ruling being nearly four years old, the DWP claimed it had no record of the tribunal decision when she contacted officials to challenge the enforcement action.\n\nOfficials instead asked her to send them a copy of the ruling herself.\n\nShe works as an auditor in the financial services sector while also caring for her elderly mother, who is bedbound with complex physical and mental health conditions.\n\nShe has not claimed benefits for the past five years.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe enforcement action involved a direct earnings attachment, which would automatically trigger financial conduct compliance investigations at her workplace if implemented.\n\nShe said the process risked damaging her professional standing and creating uncertainty around her employment.\n\nDespite repeatedly contacting the department over the past two weeks asking officials to halt the deduction, the DWP has not withdrawn the order.\n\nThe situation has forced her to instruct her employer to withhold her wages temporarily at the end of the month in an attempt to stop the deduction from being processed.\n\n### LATEST DEVELOPMENTS\n\n\n\n\n  * DWP warning as over a million pensioners miss out on benefit worth up to £458 every month\n  * DWP crisis as nearly £10BILLION lost to benefit payment fraud and errors\n  * DWP benefits crackdown: Universal Credit, PIP and Pension Credit among payments under fraud\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe woman, who has cared for her mother since the age of 13, described the department's handling of the case as \"institutionally careless\".\n\nShe said: \"As a carer, you are already holding together someone else's life, health, safety, paperwork and dignity.\n\n\"When the department that is supposed to support vulnerable people instead creates errors, loses outcomes, blocks practical routes to submit evidence and pushes enforcement on to your employer, it is frightening and exhausting.\n\n\"It also makes you feel invisible\".\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\"The DWP treated this as if it were a small administrative debt. For me, it was not just £163.73.\n\n\"It was my job, my professional reputation, my ability to care for my mother, and my confidence that public bodies can keep accurate records about vulnerable households\".\n\nThe dispute originally began in 2021 after the DWP added a carer premium to her monthly universal credit payments despite her repeatedly informing officials she did not want to receive the additional money.\n\nShe had intentionally declined carer-related payments because of a previous negative experience involving carer's allowance and its complex earnings rules.\n\nA DWP Spokesman said: \"We apologise to her for errors in processing her case. We have cancelled her debt and issued a correction to her employer.\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nShe said she repeatedly informed the DWP through phone calls and online journal messages that she did not wish to receive the premium.\n\nAlthough the department later removed the payment and apologised for the error, officials still attempted to reclaim the money on the grounds they were legally required to recover the overpayment.\n\nShe challenged the decision through a tribunal appeal, with the judge ultimately ruling entirely in her favour.\n\nThe tribunal's written decision stated: \"The tribunal found that [she] had been paid what she was entitled to and nothing more\".\n\nAn independent Government-commissioned review published last year identified outdated computer systems, poor communication between departments and difficulties accessing historical records as factors affecting administration within the DWP.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter**",
  "title": "DWP accused of ‘institutional carelessness’ after chasing quashed debt and putting carer’s job at risk"
}