Colin Watson

Claimants primarily blamed by DWP, despite how the DWP could have done more. The official found that "longstanding and 'unacceptable' systemic DWP leadership problems and poor benefit design were at the root of the failure, which it said could not be blamed on carers." So, not the legislation or regulations, but instead discretionary choices made by civil servants.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/dec/06/senior-dwp-civil-servant-blames-victims-for-carers-allowance-scandal

#dwp #carersallowancescandal #carersallowance #designdiscretion #welfarebenefits #uk

Senior DWP civil servant blames victims for carer’s allowance scandal

Neil Couling said failings by individual claimants ‘at the heart’ of crisis, despite a report finding DWP shortcomings ‘unacceptable’

The Guardian
Dec 7 at 4:34pmMastodon for Android
Show threadColin WatsonDec 7
Read more about design discretion in the development and operation of digitised welfare benefit systems at https://www.digitalbenefits.uk/
Digital Benefits and Disbenefits Project

Information from the Digital Benefits and Disbenefits Project which explored e-government technology-generated remote self-service encounters in welfare benefit public services