Unpaid carers say chancellor’s plan to scrap allowance cliff edge falls short

“On the surface it sounds really positive – and I really hope that it is,” says unpaid carer Guy Shahar of the government’s decision to abolish the notorious carer’s allowance cliff edge.

But Shahar is angry that most carers hit with unjust overpayments in the past will still have to repay them, for all the promise of a different future. And he notes that the cliff edge remains in place for four more years, potentially catching out more carers.

“They are effectively saying: ‘We know that the system was unfair but we will still punish you for having been the victim of an unfair system,’” he says.

The chancellor is expected to announce the introduction of a new digital taper system into the carer’s allowance benefit in the budget, in effect ending a rule that has landed hundreds of thousands of carers with life-shattering financial penalties.

Unpaid carers have broadly welcomed the move – and there is a general acknowledgment that ministers are moving positively, if slowly, to reform a system with inbuilt injustices and terrible management that birthed what became known as the carer’s allowance scandal.

But there is also disbelief that the new system – which must be built from scratch – will be live before 2030, and a feeling that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has a lot more to do to regain the trust of unpaid carers.

Shahar and his wife, Oksana, who care for their autistic son, Daniel, were victims of the cliff edge. This rule meant that a carer who earns more than the weekly earnings limit allowed – currently £204 – will forfeit their entire week’s carer’s allowance payment, now £86.45.

A carer who earned a penny over the limit for a year would breach it by 52p but would be asked to repay £4,495.40. Last year, the Shahars were landed with a £10,000 repayment bill for relatively trivial earnings breaches dating back five years.

Oksana had earned more than the allowed limit by just £1.92 a week on average while juggling caring with part-time minimum wage jobs. In some weeks, she was paid just 38p more than the carer’s allowance earnings threshold.

Over the period, she earned a total of £505 more than the rules allowed – but was duly issued with a bill for £10,130.45 – plus a £50 civil penalty. The Shahars are challenging the charge at tribunal but the stress is real and ongoing.

Unpaid carer Elizabeth Tait, who looks after her disabled son, Oliver, is staggered that the taper system is years away: “We live in the age of tech; it is ludicrous it is going to take so long. They need to make it a priority.”

Tait, a former teacher and now a private tutor and educational consultant who ended up with a bill for £1,623 after unwittingly breaching the earnings threshold, says the carer’s allowance cliff edge symbolises a “whole crazy system”.

Reforming carer’s allowance is essential but it needs to be part of a wider examination of the crucial role of unpaid care in propping up England’s social care arrangements, she says: “We care willingly and lovingly, and yet we end up a casualty of the system.”

Andrea Tucker, who for years acted as an unpaid carer for her mother, is one of a handful of carers to challenge a cliff edge penalty and win, successfully overturning a £4,600 overpayment at a tribunal in February 2025.

As a result, she did not have to repay the money, although she suffered months of stress along the way. She welcomes the decision to introduce a taper but believes carers punished unfairly by draconian rules should be compensated.

“People repaying overpayments should no longer have to, and they should be given back what they have already paid,” she says.

Tucker recalls how for years she carefully monitored her monthly earnings from her part-time charity shop role to stay under the limit. Some weeks she would work six hours for nothing so as not to risk losing carer’s allowance.

Even so, she was hit with an overpayment when DWP officials decided – unlawfully – that she could not average her earnings over a one-year period.

There is raw bitterness among carers about the cliff edge, she says. “My friend is paying back their overpayment at £10 a month. She went £12.50 over as a result of receiving holiday pay. She always tells me: ‘I hope I die before I have paid it all back.’”