DWP overhaul needed to restore trust after carer's allowance scandal, says review head

The Department for Work and Pensions needs a management and cultural overhaul if it is to restore public trust after the benefits scandal that left hundreds of thousands of unpaid carers in debt, a key government adviser has warned.

- Patrick Butler Social policy editor

Prof Liz Sayce led a scathing review of the carer's allowance scandal, which found the DWP system and leadership failures were responsible for carers unknowingly running up huge debts, some of which resulted in serious mental illness and, possibly, criminal convictions for fraud.

Sayce told the Guardian she had been surprised by the DWP's "lack of organisational curiosity" about the impact of the problems with carer's allowance, as well as its reluctance to tackle the issue strategically, despite being aware of the issues for years.

Her comments came days after the Guardian revealed that a top DWP civil servant, Neil Couling, had insisted carers were to blame for the department's failures in an internal message to staff, issued a few days after Sayce's report was published.