this post was submitted on 04 May 2025
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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.

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[–] perestroika@lemm.ee 158 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (7 children)

a breach of even 1p would trigger a fine of £83.30

Sounds extremely, extremely stupid. A breach of 1p should trigger repayment of 1p.

Also, a person should be notified at once, at the latest next month.

[–] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 49 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Also, why does the system even allow people to claim more than they are entitled? Is there no maximum set into the payment field or whatever they have for it?

[–] SARGE@startrek.website 39 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

In my experience, it's either total incompetence of the people in charge, or it's malicious in order to "catch" people doing something bad.

Like a bait car, but way more malicious since the person getting in the metaphorical car doesn't even know it's not their car because the keys worked, and nobody bothers stopping them for a few days so they get extra criminal charges.

[–] futatorius@lemm.ee 6 points 1 week ago

It's malice. No doubt about it.

[–] purplemonkeymad@programming.dev 19 points 1 week ago

To be clear it's not a "claim." If you are full time caring for a member of the family you are entitled to get some money as a benefit, but only if you earn less than £196.00 (inclusive) per week. Because it was setup by the tories, if you earn more, you are no longer eligible and need to pay back the whole amount, instead of it being a sliding scale where earning more is subtracted from the stipend.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 7 points 1 week ago

If it's anything like unemployment insurance claims, you could possibly be entitled to different amounts every week depending on whether you made income. But it's odd that it lets you get more than the max.

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[–] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 74 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Starmer is working hard to force the working poor into bankruptcy.

Wtf is happening in the UK???

[–] OwlPaste@lemmy.world 53 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

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.

[–] Cypher@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The government currently in power is fully responsible as they could stop it entirely, they choose not to and are complicit.

[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

"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?

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[–] Yermaw@lemm.ee 6 points 1 week ago

Bureaucracy moves pretty slowly i think. We've got another few years to find out for sure.

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[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This smells of "thanks Obama" lol

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[–] BakerBagel@midwest.social 7 points 1 week ago

The UK is absolutely cooked if a return to Blairism is the best they can come up with.

[–] Ton@lemmy.world 51 points 1 week ago (3 children)

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).

[–] notoftenthat@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Perhaps, Monty Python has some insights?

[–] gonzo-rand19@moist.catsweat.com 11 points 1 week ago

If they take money from poor people, they can give tax breaks to the rich and still break even.

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[–] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 43 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (27 children)

I lived in the UK for over a decade until Brexit, and frankly I think that by the time I left they were one of the most far-right countries in Europe, just in this English-upper-class style of posh words and the oppression done "elegantly" via extreme "rules" rather than the direct violence of the (not posh) populist far-right, - people are still made to hurt for the crime of being poor, and the system is designed to hurt anybody who would defy the local elites (just notice the conviction to years in jail of of Environmentalist demonstrators for blocking a road) but all the Ts are traced and Is are dotted, all prim and propper - so people from the outside don't really notice how so very close to Fascist Britain already is.

("It's the Law", say the far-right muppets over there, same as Nazi enablers would say in Nazi Germany.)

Rules on social security explicitly designed to make it likely that people make mistakes (this allowance apparently changes depending on a person's weekly income, which floats if you're in insecure employment, which is exactly the problem of the working poor, and it's down to the recipient to figure it out precisely, down to the pence, with no help) and then punishing them disproportionatelly hard for the error is exactly the style of "by the rules" hurting of people for being poor (and human, hence making mistakes) beloved by the Posh Fascists and their followers (of which there are many, as proven by Brexit which was the product of a campaign of Racism and Nationalistic Exceptionalism).

[–] Darleys_Brew@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 week ago

The cruelty is the point. I fucking hate this country.

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[–] WanderingThoughts@europe.pub 19 points 1 week ago

Can they do the same with rich people and corporations? Error in subsidies, pay back 100 times the amount for the infraction. Now they often get a relatively small fine.

[–] jbk@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 1 week ago

terf island again being shitty

[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago (6 children)

Wait... An outrageous medical bill in the UK is ~13000 USD? An ambulance ride here costs 8k alone...

[–] booly@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 week ago

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.

[–] Dragonstaff@leminal.space 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] hopesdead@startrek.website 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

You linked the same article from the post.

[–] Dragonstaff@leminal.space 13 points 6 days ago

Maybe the person I replied to will read it this time.

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