A younger carer who had taken care of her disabled mom since she was eight stated she was “amazed” and “overwhelmed” after Guardian readers paid off her £2,000 wonderful for a mistaken breach of extensively condemned advantages guidelines.
Rose Jones, 22, was ordered by the Division for Work and Pensions (DWP) to repay £2,145 after becoming a member of a authorities youth employment scheme that meant she overstepped “draconian” carer’s allowance earnings laws.
Jones stated she was twice wrongly suggested by her jobcentre work coach that her wages earned underneath the Kickstart scheme wouldn’t have an effect on her eligibility for carer’s allowance.
Nevertheless, lower than a 12 months after she accomplished the six-month scheme, underneath which the DWP paid her wages, she acquired a requirement from the identical authorities division that she pay again £2,145 of overpaid advantages.
Emily Holzhausen, the director of coverage at Carers UK, stated it was “devastating” to see an adolescent with a “challenging start in life be badly let down by the DWP”.
The Guardian highlighted Jones’s case as a part of its award-winning investigation into the DWP’s prosecution of unpaid carers, which has left a whole lot of hundreds of individuals paying again sums as excessive as £20,000 for official failures that MPs have condemned.
Inside days of Jones’s story being revealed, Guardian readers had donated greater than £3,000 to an internet crowdfunding marketing campaign.
Jones, who cared for her mom from the age of eight till she was 20, stated: “I’m both overwhelmed by how much support it’s had and really amazed that people feel that I was treated badly by the DWP because for so long I did feel like I was on my own in this situation.
“People have given so many kind comments. I feel very supported. It was like a weight on my chest for so long. I’ve been dealing with this for almost three years now.”
Jones stated she would use the cash to repay her debt and the rest could be donated to Southampton Younger Carers.
Jones stated she was annoyed that she had been compelled to pay the price of official failure after totally different branches of the DWP – the jobcentre, the employment part and the carer’s allowance unit – appeared unclear on the principles.
She added: “It was particularly stressful when I first got the letter from the DWP. I was really worried that I would have to pay it all off and I wouldn’t be able to pay for my rent. I was also worried that my mum would get in trouble because she was the one I was caring for.”
