Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the (a) underpayment and (b) overpayment of Carer's Allowance.

Carer’s Allowance is a single rate benefit which is either fully awarded to those who meet the qualifying conditions or disallowed. Those who also receive an “overlapping benefit”, such as a State Pension, will have any award of Carer’s Allowance adjusted accordingly.

We commissioned an Independent Review of Carer’s Allowance earnings-related overpayments to see what happened and what changes can be made. The Review and our response to it will be published in due course.