Hundreds of carers could face trial for benefits error

Calls for ministers to halt process that has left many claimants in debt

- Patrick Butler

More than 250 unpaid carers risk criminal prosecution after falling foul of draconian benefit rules in the past six months, official figures reveal.

Since April, when the carer's allowance scandal was first revealed by the Guardian, officials have begun to recoup overpayments debts from more than 15,000 carers, with 50 repaying sums of at least £10,000.

Campaigners and politicians have called on ministers - who have promised to learn from "problems and mistakes" with the allowance - to intervene urgently to minimise the continuing devastating impact on carers while an independent review of the benefit takes place.

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader and a carer for his teenage son, said: "I'm glad we have secured a review, but it can't be right for the DWP to carry on like business as usual while that review takes place. At the very least, we need to see a halt to repayment demands and threats of prosecution until the review has completed and the system has been reformed."

A series of Guardian articles have highlighted the often cruel punishments and harsh financial penalties imposed by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on carers who do part-time paid jobs, causing public outrage and leading to comparisons to the Post Office Horizon scandal.