A carer who says he was “dragged by the courts” and needed to promote his dwelling to pay again virtually £20,000 in profit overpayments is preventing to clear his identify after the Division for Work and Pensions (DWP) acknowledged he made an harmless mistake.
George Henderson, 64, mentioned he made a achieve of simply 30p every week whereas claiming carer’s allowance for his son John, who has studying difficulties and is hooked on heroin. He now prices the Treasury £1,000 a month extra in advantages, having grow to be homeless and too unwell to work.
Henderson mentioned he was left suicidal after being prosecuted by the DWP, which accused him of fraudulently claiming the profit for six years whereas he was caring for John, who’s now 42.
He wrongly ticked a field saying he was unemployed whereas filling within the “tough” utility kind for carer’s allowance in 2010. “I believed they have been asking about John,” he instructed the Guardian.
The DWP has data of him working as a taxi driver since 2002, incomes about £7.50 an hour. But it took greater than six years for anybody on the division to inform him he was claiming the profit incorrectly.
By that time he had claimed £19,506.20 – about £60 every week. The DWP not solely wished all of it again but additionally prosecuted him for fraud. Investigators mentioned he had lied about having a job and had ignored annual letters reminding him to report any modifications in circumstances.
He protested his innocence however was discovered responsible. In 2018, a decide at Preston crown courtroom gave him a 32-week suspended sentence and ordered him to put on an digital tag for 16 weeks.
By no means in hassle with the regulation earlier than, Henderson discovered it humiliating having the tag fitted and abruptly having a 9pm curfew. “My abdomen was churning watching them placing it on,” he mentioned. “I simply felt helpless, embarrassed, degraded … I’d been dragged by the courts like a legal, and I’m not.”
Afterwards, he obtained letters from the DWP each three weeks demanding he promote his two-bed former council flat to pay the debt or face a seven-month jail time period, he mentioned.
Henderson finally offered the property for £115,000, and after paying off his mortgage and the DWP he was left with simply £6,000. “It breaks my coronary heart,” he mentioned. “I’ve been again and checked out [the house] twice and I’ve truly broke down and cried.”
His psychological well being deteriorated to the purpose that he tried to kill himself and have become significantly unwell. “I’d misplaced 4 stone. You would truly see my ribcage.”
Henderson is one in every of numerous carers the Guardian has spoken to after exposing how individuals taking care of disabled, frail or sick relations are being compelled to repay enormous sums to the federal government and threatened with legal prosecution after unwittingly breaching earnings guidelines by only a few kilos every week.
The federal government is dealing with calls to overtake the system after the Guardian revealed that tens of 1000’s of unpaid carers are dealing with extreme fines, some over £20,000, for comparatively modest and unintentional breaches of guidelines branded “merciless and nonsensical”.
John, Henderson’s center baby, was born wholesome however misplaced most of his listening to and developed disabilities after contracting measles aged three. He was unable to handle residing independently as an grownup, significantly after changing into hooked on heroin, and so moved in together with his father.
Initially, John was claiming incapacity advantages price about £60 every week. However Henderson quickly realised that John’s drug sellers would wait by the cashpoint every week when he was paid, taking his cash off him for heroin.
Henderson claimed that in 2010 a DWP official got here to the home to evaluate John and so they mentioned the professionals and cons of claiming carer’s allowance as an alternative.
The brand new profit was price 30p every week extra however meant Henderson might obtain the cash into his checking account and pay it to his son as a every day allowance, with the purpose of stopping it being taken by the heroin sellers.
After his conviction in 2017, Henderson tried and did not enchantment. He was left homeless and needed to be housed by the native council in sheltered lodging, at a price to the general public purse. Too unwell to work, he now depends on common credit score, receiving £1,300 a month to cowl his housing and residing prices.
“Consider it or not, after I moved in I couldn’t get out and in of the tub as a result of I’ve acquired two hip replacements and I’ve acquired a severe spinal situation. So it value them £7,000 to place in a moist room. It’s costing them the common credit score. It’s completely ludicrous. It’s truly value the taxpayer or the federal government cash by doing this,” he mentioned.
Not too long ago, Henderson determined to attempt to clear his identify and wrote to Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary. Final month he obtained a letter from the DWP apologising for his ordeal however refusing to provide him the cash again.
The letter mentioned: “The enchantment conceded that you just have been a convincing and credible witness [and] it was extra possible than not that you just have been telling the reality and that the false declaration was an harmless mistake.”
It went on: “I’m so sorry that you just really feel that experiences with DWP have contributed to your monetary issues, extreme emotional trauma and psychological well being.”
Henderson refuses to just accept the apology. “It’s not addressing what I would like addressed,” he mentioned. “Why did it take six years to search out that I ticked the field incorrectly? Why not within the first 12 months? Then it will be acceptable. I’d have been capable of pay the primary 12 months, I made a mistake.”
A DWP spokesperson mentioned: “We’re dedicated to pretty supporting all those that want the welfare system, whereas fulfilling our obligation to treating taxpayers’ cash responsibly.
“Claimants have a duty to tell DWP of any modifications of their circumstances that might influence their award, and it’s proper that we get well taxpayers’ cash when this has not occurred. We’ll work with those that want help with their compensation phrases while defending the general public purse.”