Martin Lewis warns people on one DWP benefit could be about to lose £20,000

Martin Lewis has issued a warning over one Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ) benefit which is costing people £20,000. The BBC and ITV star and his Money Saving Expert team says Heather Aylesbury, 56, is suffering because of her DWP Carer's Allowance benefit.

The mum of two cared for her 91-year-old mother, who had neuropathy, a condition that causes numbness in her legs. During the seven years Heather looked after her mum, she also worked as a librarian. Heather claimed Carer's Allowance which you can work alongside it, but you cannot earn over £151 a week after tax, National Insurance, pension contributions, and allowable expenses.

Mr Lewis warned: "Unpaid carers are unsung national heroes who save the economy and the NHS billions and provide a national wellbeing boost. Carer's Allowance is a not particularly generous benefit that those on very low incomes, who care for people in need for over 35 hours a week, can get.

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"Yet its structure is broken, old-fashioned, unjust and in need of urgent change. Earn £151 a week or less, and those eligible can claim the £81.90 per week allowance. Yet, earn a penny more – £151.01 – and they get nothing. This is perverse – most benefits, including Universal Credit, have a taper, so if you go over the threshold, the payment received is gradually reduced. Carer's Allowance only has a cliff-edge, leaving many to plummet off.

"Worse, the system seemingly sets people up to slip over the threshold unwittingly. Many on Carer's Allowance need to restrict any working hours to avoid hitting it (a strange disincentive to work), yet if their wage increases slightly, eg, when the annual minimum wage increases, they can fractionally bust the threshold. If that happens, the terrible disconnectedness and poor benefits systems mean they're often still paid the allowance for months, or even years. Then, even though they may have only earned a pound or two more, they're later asked for unaffordable £100s or £1,000s back.

"I'd ask you to look at ending the cliff-edge going forward, and retrospectively for those carers who are facing requests for crippling back-payments – adding to the burden many are already faced with. The system is fundamentally unjust, and hits many of society's most venerable and vulnerable."

In 2019, she received a letter from the benefits department informing her that she had been "overpaid" by a staggering" £19,543.95. Heather told MSE that she was "devastated". At the time, Heather said she wasn't earning enough to cover her mortgage and bills and found the ordeal incredibly "traumatic".

Heather added: "I do understand that it was my responsibility to make sure I was under the limit. But it didn't cross my mind." I was in the same role, in the same job, working the same number of hours. I was still caring for mum, more so than I was before. So I never had a reason to question it, nor did I have the time or the energy to."