I’ve commented on this one a couple of times. [1] The Guardian has managed to create a completely fake ‘scandal’. Basically, thousands of people who received a social security benefit called ‘Carers Allowance’, which is awarded to people who care for relatives at home, (why, the taxpayer is paying people to care for their own relatives is itself an interesting question), scammed the system by not declaring changes in their income. The Department of Work and Pensions was at fault in that they did not pick up on people over-claiming at once; in many cases it took years for them to notice. The result was that people were able to over-claim for, in some cases, years, resulting in demands for repayments of quite large sums, when they were eventually caught. That is an administrative failing by the DWP, but, as this senior official, apparently commented on an internal message board: “at the heart of the overpayment issues in CA [carer’s allowance] is a failure to report changes of circumstances”, that is, by the claimants. [2] He is, of course, quite right. All these benefit forms come with “you must inform us if your circumstances change” printed in large letters all over them. Even if the rules were complex, it is still the responsibility of claimants to get it right. Not just throw up their hands and over-claim.
The new story [2] is about the reaction to this official’s reasonable assessment of the situation, which clearly is not on message with the government commissioned review carried out by a “disability rights expert”. (No surprises that that report sided with the Carers). The official’s post has been removed. MPs and NGO leaders are lining up to denounce him.
We do love a good victim narrative. – In any normal society people who over-claimed a social benefit, in many cases, to the value of thousands of pounds, would not be championed as abused victims.
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