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Unpaid carer who won case against DWP calls for end to 'harassment'
The Guardian
|June 17, 2025
The mother of a teenager with cerebral palsy has demanded an end to the "sickening harassment" of unpaid carers after a significant legal victory against the government.
Nicola Green, 42, was pursued by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for more than a year after she was accused of fraudulently claiming nearly £3,000 in carer's allowance.
When Green insisted she was innocent, the DWP wrote to her employer without her knowledge to try to recoup the sum from her pay.
The part-time college worker appealed against the fine before a tribunal judge, who quashed it in barely 30 minutes last month.
Speaking after her legal victory, Green said she had been treated "like a criminal" by the DWP over the £2,823.75 sum. "I can't believe what they're putting people through," she said. "[I'm] just a law-abiding person, who has never broken the law in my life. I've always tried to do things by the book... It feels like harassment."
The DWP wrote to Green on 27 May to say it was considering appealing against the tribunal ruling and that it would not cancel the debt until then.
This story is from the June 17, 2025 edition of The Guardian.
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