Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his Department has made on clearing the backlog of Carer’s Allowance overpayment debts in relation to earnings.

DWP secured additional funding for 2025/2026 for a 27% increase in resource to clear the stock of Carer’s Allowance (CA) Verify Earnings and Pensions (VEP) alerts. VEP enables DWP to receive real time identification of changes in a claimant’s income through an interface with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Pay as You Earn (PAYE) information.

This focus has ensured DWP has now cleared this stock of CA VEP alerts, moving DWP to a position of actioning all alerts as close as possible to the date of generation by HMRC, and helping reduce the risk of large overpayments building up over many years.