What should I do about a Carer's Allowance overpayment?

Key deadlines

• Ask for a mandatory reconsideration within one month of the date on your decision letter. You can ask later only if you have a good reason, such as being in hospital or a bereavement.
• Report changes straight away, for example if your take-home pay goes over £204 a week, to stop a new overpayment building up.

The DWP reassessment (2015 to 2025)

DWP has accepted that its guidance on averaging earnings did not reflect the law. This affected carers whose pay went up and down. Some were wrongly told they had gone over the weekly earnings limit.

DWP is now reassessing Carer's Allowance overpayments from 10 April 2015 to 2 September 2025. If yours is affected, it may be:

• reduced
• cancelled completely
• refunded, if you have already paid it back (including debts paid off in full, where DWP can identify them)

You do not need to contact DWP about this. They will contact you if they need to. Overpayments linked to allowable expenses are not part of the reassessment.

Steps to challenge an overpayment

1. Read your decision letter. Note the date and what DWP says went wrong.
2. Check your payslips for the weeks in question. The limit applies to pay after tax, National Insurance and allowable expenses.
3. Ask for a mandatory reconsideration by phone, letter or form. The contact details are on your letter.
4. If you still disagree after the reconsideration, you can appeal to an independent tribunal.

What to include

• the date of the original decision
• your name, address and date of birth
• your National Insurance number
• which part of the decision is wrong, and why
• any evidence, such as payslips, holiday pay details or pension contributions

If you are paying it back

If you still get benefits, DWP reduces your payments until the debt is cleared. If not, you can pay in full or set up monthly payments. If you do not pay, DWP can ask your employer to take money from your wages.

If the amount is too high, contact DWP Debt Management on 0800 916 0647 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 7:30pm). They can talk through what you can afford.

Avoiding future overpayments

The earnings limit for 2026/27 is £204 a week. It is now set at 16 hours at the National Living Wage. Tell the Carer's Allowance Unit (0800 731 0297) if you:

• start, change or leave a job
• start earning more than £204 a week
• stop caring for at least 35 hours a week
• go into hospital or on holiday, or the person you care for goes into hospital, a care home or on holiday

Free help

Citizens Advice can help you check the decision and write your challenge.

If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland

• Scotland: Carer Support Payment, run by Social Security Scotland, has replaced Carer's Allowance. Contact them about payments from them. Citizens Advice Scotland can help.
• Northern Ireland: Carer's Allowance is run by the Department for Communities (Disability and Carers Service). The earnings limit is also £204 a week. Advice NI can help.

If you miss the deadline

You can still ask after one month if you have a good reason. Explain the reason clearly in your request.

Related guides

• Can I get Carer's Allowance?
• What is Carer's Allowance?
• What is the Universal Credit carer element?
• What is Carer's Credit?
• What is Carer Support Payment in Scotland?

Where this comes from

• Unpaid carers impacted by unclear guidance to have debts cancelled (DWP)
• Government response to the Independent Review of Carer's Allowance overpayments
• Carer's Allowance: report a change
• Carer's Allowance: report a change in circumstances
• Challenge a benefit decision
• Benefit overpayments: how to make a repayment
• Carer's Allowance (nidirect)