The Department for Work and Pensions has been accused of blocking a whistleblower who repeatedly raised the alarm about carer’s allowance from giving evidence to an independent review of the scandal-hit benefit.
The DWP staffer was told by a senior official it was inappropriate to share with the review their knowledge of the inner workings of a system that has become notorious for its often cruel treatment of unpaid carers.
The review will examine how hundreds of thousands of unpaid carers ended up with huge debts and in some cases a criminal record for mostly minor and accidental breaches of carer’s allowance benefit earnings rules.
Approached by the Guardian last month with evidence that officials had rejected requests from individual staff members to make submissions to the review, the DWP said there was “no blanket ban” and it wanted “everyone” to contribute.
However, when the whistleblower, Enrico La Rocca, subsequently reapplied for permission he was told by the DWP’s personnel department that it would not be appropriate for him to give evidence.
Ministers announced the review in October after a Guardian investigation that revealed DWP officials and Conservative ministers had allowed flaws in the system to continue for years, despite promises to fix the problems.
Latest figures show more than 134,500 unpaid carers are repaying overpayment debts of more than £251m after falling foul of “cliff-edge” rules on earnings limits.
A carer working part-time who earned £1 more than the £151 threshold for 52 weeks would pay back not £52 but £4,258.80 – 52 times the entire £81.90 weekly allowance.
The review will look in part at why the DWP failed to investigate alerts identifying carers who had inadvertently breached earnings rules, instead allowing them to unknowingly accrue overpayments that often ran into thousands of pounds.
The DWP has now confirmed staff, including La Rocca, will be encouraged to submit evidence. A DWP spokesperson said: “We have always been clear that staff members can contribute to the review, and we have already reached out to invite staff to share their insight.
“We want the review to hear from everyone so it can get to the bottom of the issue and make recommendations to ensure carers are supported. The review allows individuals and stakeholders to give their views – which will be taken into account in drawing conclusions and developing recommendations.”
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) general secretary, Fran Heathcote, criticised the DWP for blocking frontline officials from testifying.
She said: “It made no sense at all to stop our members at DWP giving evidence to the review. These are the very people the review should be hearing from.”
She added: “They are the workers delivering the services and have the evidence the review needs to hear. Stifling their testimony looked like they had something to hide.”
The chair of the carer’s allowance independent review, the disability policy expert Liz Sayce, told the Guardian she wanted DWP staff to contribute. She said: “I’m really keen to hear from everybody who has evidence to give evidence. I want the review to get to the bottom of what happened.”
DWP officials blocked La Rocca on the basis civil servants were prevented from giving evidence under civil service protocols called “Osmotherly rules”.
However, the PCS said the rules covered parliamentary select committees and not independent reviews, a view subsequently confirmed to be correct by the DWP press office.
Although DWP ministers have promised to reform carer’s allowance processes to prevent future overpayment injustices, campaigners are concerned past failures by the department to tackle problems with the benefit may be overlooked. The government has not confirmed it publish the review, due in the summer.
Problems with carers’ benefits first came to light in public in 2018 after La Rocca, then a civil servant in the carer’s allowance unit, blew the whistle to MPs and the National Audit Office after he felt concerns he raised internally for years about failures in the administration of the benefit were not addressed by DWP bosses.
La Rocca’s evidence triggered a formal inquiry and a 2019 cross-party MPs’ report that was scathing in its criticism of the DWP’s handling of carer’s allowance. He was praised by MPs but sacked a year later by the DWP despite assurances by the department’s permanent secretary, Peter Schofield, that he would be protected.
La Rocca was reinstated by the DWP in 2021, in a different part of the organisation, after representations on his behalf from – among others – Stephen Timms, the then chair of the work and pensions select committee, who is now the DWP minister in charge of carer’s allowance.
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