It was three weeks after Christmas when the bombshell letter arrived. Guy Shahar and his wife, Oksana, looked at each other in stunned disbelief.
They had followed the Guardian’s investigation into the carer’s allowance scandal that has left thousands of families with crippling debts and criminal records. Not once did they think they would join them.
“Important,” it read in big bold type. “You have been paid more carer’s allowance than you are entitled to. You now need to pay this money back”.
In some weeks, she was paid just 38p more than the threshold – but for that tiny infraction she is being forced to repay £64.60 each time, the rate of carer’s allowance at the time.
Wait… An outrageous medical bill in the UK is ~13000 USD? An ambulance ride here costs 8k alone…
That’s not an outrageous medical bill. It’s an outrageous bill for clawing back government benefits for those whose full time care for family members prevents them from working.
No. Here’s a good (albeit infuriating) explanation of what happened.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/may/03/mother-of-autistic-boy-left-with-10000-debt-after-breaching-dwp-rules-by-192-a-week
You linked the same article from the post.
Maybe the person I replied to will read it this time.
I (USA) literally can’t get my tooth fixed because I don’t have dental insurance or a spare $2,000 for the root canal, not counting the crown which is probably another grand. We live in hell and now there’s some Brits feeling our pain, and all I can think is “yeah it ain’t so funny when it happens to you, is it?”
Look for a dental college. They’re cheap and sometimes even free.
examples:
https://activebeat.com/your-health/6-dental-schools-that-offer-free-or-budget-friendly-dental-work/