DWP called out for dodging responsibility for carers scandal

MPs have criticised senior Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) figures over their handling of the carers allowance scandal. Their “absolutely unacceptable behaviour” resulted in hundreds of thousands of unpaid carers facing huge debts.

The issue was brought under the spotlight by the Work and Pensions Committee.

Peter Schofield, permanent secretary of the DWP, responded to the Work and Pensions committee, who did not go easy on him. Debbie Abrahams asked “how on earth” he explained the behaviour of others in the DWP, and Steve Darling accused him of talking “blancmange” (hollow talk).

Independent review laid blame at the DWP’s door

In November 2025, an independent review into the scandal found that longstanding systemic issues within the DWP were the main cause behind overpayments. It laid the blame solely at the feet of the DWP, also referencing poor design and unlawful internal guidance. Ultimately, the review found that it was in no way the carers’ fault.

The review found that some carers contemplated suicide, due to the distress of being expected to pay back thousands. One carer described it as:

like playing a game where only the other side knows the rules

A “massive failure of culture” within the DWP

The chair of the committee, Debbie Abrahams, directly quoted the report to Schofield

The DWP has failed to demonstrate the focus needed to resolve these persistent injustices on earnings related payments and the implementation of carers allowance core purposes effectively

She then asked Schofield:

How do you explain this?!

His reply, as expected, involved a load of bluster and excuses. Instead of promising to be better, he rattled off a load of ineffective things they’d apparently been doing.

Abrahams, however, wasn’t taking this bullshit. She interrupted him and drew his attention to his colleague, Neil Couling, who blamed carers.

She once again gave him an opportunity to show any kind of remorse

Given what the report had said, that this was a massive failure of culture, let alone competence within the department, how on earth do you explain that? That behaviour is absolutely unacceptable, surely.

DWP is “making a difference”, yeah, but not a good one

Yet again, he rumbled on with the “progress” the DWP are making. Despite being pulled up again Schofield still insisted

We were making a difference

Yeah but a “difference” isn’t always a good thing. He did finally show some humanity, though and admitted the department “made a mistake” with confusing guidance.

We got that wrong and we have recognised that. And I am really sorry for the way that we have got that wrong, we’re gonna put that right

Which sounds wonderful, but this is the DWP after all isn’t it?

The committee remained unconvinced, and Abrahams instead asked why the department rejected the recommendation from the review to conduct an internal audit. It seems pretty obvious from here why such a corrupt department wouldn’t want that scrutiny.

Schofield said instead that he’s already commissioned a review into departmental guidance. But that’s not a review into the culture of the DWP on the whole, which is what we really need here.

Darling takes the DWP to task

Sick of this bullshit, Lib Dem Mp took his turn to grill the senior civil servant.

Darling, who is disabled, asked:

are you confident that by this time next year you will be in the position of stopping debts building up and also have resolved those [cases] where debts are sitting with people at the moment? Its the worries of those individuals I’m concerned about, and what culture are you driving within the organisation to do this?

But it of course just led to more BS from Schofield, which Darling also wasn’t going to put up with. Darling said:

It just feels like it’s just more of the same at one of the most challenged government departments. What culture change are you driving and what management systems are you changing to achieve real change for the DWP?

This was followed by more bs from Schofield including a laughable soundbite where he claimed the values of the DWP are:

We care, we deliver we adapt. We work together, we value everybody

Try not to laugh too much at that, disabled people.

What a load of blancmange

Finally Darling shut him down

You’ve given me a lot of blancmange that I’m finding difficult to nail to the ceiling what clear evidence of management change is there and I’m concerned that you’re not able to give me any.

Whilst blancmange isn’t the word we’d use, the sentiment is the same. The DWP demonstrably haven’t got a fucking clue what they’re doing and everyone, including the committee, knows it.

Laughably though Schofields response claims the DWP always fix their mistakes

We’ve got a great track record of putting things right when things go wrong. This is a department that when it knows we have to get things right we put it right.

The ego at the DWP is laughable

It’s absolutely baffling that no matter how much the DWP fucks up, they still think they’re doing a good job. They’re the departmental equivalent of that one white straight man in the office who always manages to fail upwards.

A department with this many failures shouldn’t feasibly exist. But the fact it prevails shows just how much successive governments care about the worst off in society. If it were a department focusing on business, it would’ve been scrapped years ago, or at least faced some form of actual scrutiny. That it hasn’t, shows that governments are well aware of the horror it inflicts and don’t care to change it.

Featured image via the Canary