Guardian reporters win Paul Foot award for carer’s allowance protection

The Guardian reporters Patrick Butler and Josh Halliday have gained the Paul Foot award for his or her protection of ways susceptible British carers had been taking to court docket for by chance claiming the allowance along part-time paintings.

The pair exposed how carers had been prosecuted despite the fact that many had attempted to document their income to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Tens of hundreds of carers have unwittingly fallen foul of income laws every yr for the reason that DWP everlasting secretary Peter Schofield promised MPs in 2019 that new generation would remove the issue via fighting overpayments “in some cases before they happen”.

In the 5 years after the examine income and pensions device, referred to as VEP, was once offered as a approach to the issues of carer’s allowance, greater than 262,000 overpayments totalling in far more than £325m had been clawed again from carers, and 600 carers had been prosecuted and won legal data, in line with the National Audit Office.

In the case of 1 guy, who was once convicted for overclaiming 30p every week, the DWP has since stated he made an blameless mistake.

Labour has since arrange an impartial assessment of the allowance and raised the income restrict for the ones claiming it.

The 2025 awards rite on Tuesday was once hosted at Bafta via the Private Eye editor, Ian Hislop, who stated: “Who cares? This is the big question in Britain at the moment and the winners wrote brilliantly about these very people.”

Butler, the Guardian’s social coverage editor, instructed the Private Eye podcast: “This is a story about injustices in the benefits system and how these injustices have inflicted debt, misery and untold stress on some of the most vulnerable and poorest people in our society who have dedicated their lives to looking after loved ones.”

Halliday, the north of England editor, stated: “When you speak to these people it really affects you. This is devastating sums of money, people who are already living extremely difficult lives, trying to do their best, coping with the ongoing trauma of caring for a loved one.”

Padraig Reidy, chair of the judges, stated: “This was an enraging and heartbreaking campaign on behalf of a group the government has called ‘unsung heroes’.

“You couldn’t read these articles without thinking of the Post Office scandal – another story of ordinary, decent people persecuted by an uncaring bureaucracy. It was in the best tradition of Paul Foot’s work.”