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| Carers scandal: why are so many being prosecuted by the UK government? | Carers scandal: why are so many being prosecuted by the UK government? |
| (7 months later) | |
| George Henderson was convicted of fraud and had to repay £19,500 in carer’s allowance years after ticking the wrong box on the form. He is not alone. The Guardian’s social policy editor, Patrick Butler, looks at why thousands are facing prosecution over innocent mistakes | George Henderson was convicted of fraud and had to repay £19,500 in carer’s allowance years after ticking the wrong box on the form. He is not alone. The Guardian’s social policy editor, Patrick Butler, looks at why thousands are facing prosecution over innocent mistakes |
| In 2010, George Henderson wrongly ticked a box saying he was unemployed while filling in the “tricky” application form for carer’s allowance. He had thought the Department for Work and Pensions was asking about his son John, who has learning difficulties and is addicted to heroin. | |
| Ticking that box has changed Henderson’s life. He said he was dragged through the courts, convicted of fraud and had to sell his home to pay back almost £20,000 in benefit overpayments after the DWP decided to prosecute him. The department recently acknowledged that Henderson had made an innocent mistake. | |
| Henderson is not alone. The Guardian social policy editor, Patrick Butler, tells Helen Pidd that he has been investigating why so many carers are being taken to court for benefit fraud. He explores what could be done to address a story that is drawing parallels with the Post Office Horizon IT scandal. |