Your Voice: “I have fallen foul of this ridiculous system”
3 mins read
Tuesday 10 November 2026
Last month the government announced that unpaid carers will no longer lose their entire Carer’s Allowance award if they go over the weekly earnings limit.
This will in turn reduce the risk of carers owing money to the Department of Work and Pensions. In some cases, carers have faced punitive overpayments.
Alexandra, a parent carer from Shropshire, shared her reaction to the news.
“Horrified and considered leaving my job”
“I have fallen foul of this ridiculous system, so I am overjoyed that the cliff edge policy is ending. I am however extremely disappointed that it will be 2030/31 before I can relax. And I would like them to have gone further and allowed carers to earn more, while still retaining their Carer’s Allowance, rather than restricting us.
“I left my previous role as a serving West Midlands Police Officer after 22 years of service. The needs of my two adopted girls, now aged 21 and 16-years-old, became too high for me to be able to maintain this level of employment.
“After five years being full-time mum and carer, I decided I wanted to get back into a paid job. I wanted to improve my well-being and to give some structure to my life. I got a job at Aldi, which is close to home.
“Once I worked more than my allocated hours because a member of staff was unable to work due to her partner being in an emergency hospital situation. l offered to work to help the team. I did not think this would take me over the earnings limit.
“The result was that my Carers Allowance stopped, and l ultimately had a £1000 overpayment debt sent to me. I had worked hard for three months, and I owed almost as much as I had earned in that time. I was horrified and I did consider leaving the job. My employer was understanding and flexible and I now work 12 hours a week, to keep a distance from the cliff edge.”
What is changing?
As part of new proposals, carers will lose £1 of their award for every £1 they earn over the limit, currently £204 a week.
Contact has long called for this change. Currently carers lose their entire Carer’s Allowance award if they earn even 1p over the limit.
For those in receipt of Universal Credit, the cliff edge remains. Contact is working with other charities and parent campaigners will continue to push for this to be removed too.
The announcement was made following a government review into the main benefit for carers following a number of overpayments made to carers. The change will be implemented in 2030.
Further improvements badly needed
Derek Sinclair, our senior benefits adviser, said:
“Contact’s own research found that half of families with disabled children who had to repay Carer’s Allowance due to the earnings cliff-edge stopped claiming as a result. This was despite continuing to care significantly more than 35 hours each week.
“However, parent carers continue to face significant financial pressures. For those receiving Universal Credit, Carer’s Allowance will still be deducted pound for pound. With the new taper not due until 2030, further improvements to carers’ benefits are badly needed.”