A single mum was left aghast after the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) demanded she repay £11,000 for exceeding her benefit’s earnings limit by as little as 50p a week.

Karina Moon, aged 62, faced the daunting prospect of repaying a hefty sum of £11,292.75 in Carer’s Allowance or risk being charged with fraud.

She recounted to the Guardian the shock she felt upon receiving the call from a DWP official, emphasising her meticulous approach to managing her finances.

Karina prides herself on keeping detailed records of her payslips, closely monitoring her benefit entitlements, and “budgets like there’s no tomorrow”.

Yet, Karina is among the numerous individuals who have been ordered to return their benefits after inadvertently breaching the employment restrictions tied to the Carer’s Allowance. The rules stipulate that recipients must provide a minimum of 35 hours of unpaid care weekly to qualify for the £81.90 payment and cannot earn over £151 per week from employment without forfeiting their benefit rights.

Karina, who cares for her 22-year-old daughter diagnosed with Bardet-Biedl syndrome, autism, type 2 diabetes, and blindness, had been topping up her income with a part-time job at Tesco, where she earned £9.50 an hour. She believed her earnings were within the permissible range until a call from the DWP in 2019, three years into her claim, shattered that belief.

After seeking guidance from Citizens Advice, she was shocked to learn that her weekly earnings occasionally exceeded the limit by up to £3. The DWP failed to notify Karina until three years into her employment at Tesco, leading to a substantial accumulation of overpayments.

Despite attempts to settle the matter, the DWP demanded Karina return the entire sum of Carer’s Allowance received over those three years, amounting to £11,292.75, plus an additional civil penalty of £50. With assistance from Citizens Advice, Karina is now repaying at a rate of £60 per month, which means she’ll be paying off the debt well into her seventies.

Karina expressed her resignation: “My guess is I will be paying that back for the rest of my days, and still doing a full-time caring job.”

Karina’s case is not isolated; recent weeks have brought to light numerous similar situations. Data from 2022-23 shows that 26,700 carers were asked to repay money due to earnings-related discrepancies.

Over 800 of these individuals are repaying amounts ranging from £5,000 to £20,000, with 36 facing repayments exceeding £20,000.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has come under fire as more cases emerge, with critics slamming its use of real-time data-matching technology to monitor claimants’ earnings. This system flags up when someone exceeds the income threshold instantly.

Yet, the DWP has been accused of dragging its feet, often waiting years before notifying claimants, leading to staggering repayment demands, as highlighted in Karina’s ordeal. The issue was spotlighted by a group of MPs in a 2019 report, indicating that the department has known about this problem for at least half a decade.

In response, a DWP spokesperson defended their position: “Carers across the UK are unsung heroes who make a huge difference to someone else’s life and we have increased carer’s allowance by almost £1,500 since 2010. We are committed to fairness in the welfare system, with safeguards in place for managing repayments, while protecting the public purse. Claimants have a responsibility to inform DWP of any changes in their circumstances that could impact their award, and it is right that we recover taxpayers’ money when this has not occurred.”