It was three weeks after Christmas when the bombshell letter arrived. Guy Shahar and his wife, Oksana, looked at each other in stunned disbelief.
They had followed the Guardian’s investigation into the carer’s allowance scandal that has left thousands of families with crippling debts and criminal records. Not once did they think they would join them.
“Important,” it read in big bold type. “You have been paid more carer’s allowance than you are entitled to. You now need to pay this money back”.
In some weeks, she was paid just 38p more than the threshold – but for that tiny infraction she is being forced to repay £64.60 each time, the rate of carer’s allowance at the time.
Starmer is working hard to force the working poor into bankruptcy.
Wtf is happening in the UK???
The same report released in May found the DWP had known since 2021 that overpayment of Carer’s Allowance has left some people in financial difficulty.
Remind me when were last general elections again? Another conservative mine they left hanging about by sweeping it under the rug.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20jln81w72o
Not a fan of labour but please give credit where its due, as to which government did nothing first.
The government currently in power is fully responsible as they could stop it entirely, they choose not to and are complicit.
“Fully responsible” huh? Like on day 1, or is there some sort of grace period? How long does a gov have to review all historic legislation? Is your timeframe based on empiric evidence or hopes and dreams? Why aren’t the individuals who wrote and passed it “fully responsible”? Or does their culpability end the moment they vacate office?
Last I checked the current UK Government have been in for nearly a year.
They would have been aware of this legislation when it passed as it’s not like the politicians are born on election day.
A current majority government is always responsible for how the government is running.
This smells of “thanks Obama” lol
Why are Anglo-Saxon ‘conservative’ governments hell-bent on punishing the poor to the fullest extent. They no longer hide the strategy that cruelty is the point! And the general public seems to like it, and votes for it in ever greater numbers, until it happens to themselves, of course.
Can someone explain this to a person who grew up in a Rhineland model based society that is now fast adopting the Anglo Saxon model (the Netherlands).
Perhaps, Monty Python has some insights?
Wait… An outrageous medical bill in the UK is ~13000 USD? An ambulance ride here costs 8k alone…
That’s not an outrageous medical bill. It’s an outrageous bill for clawing back government benefits for those whose full time care for family members prevents them from working.