'It doesn't seem real' £2 benefits error saddles family with a £10,000 debt

It was three weeks after Christmas when the bombshell letter arrived. Guy Shahar and his wife, Oksana, looked at each other in stunned disbelief.

- Josh Halliday

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." The sum being demanded by the government was staggering: £10,180.45.

"It just didn't seem real," said Guy, 53. "It was so surreal and outrageous we assumed there must have been some sort of mistake."

There was no mistake. The family had unwittingly breached the earnings limit that has left hundreds of thousands of carers paying back huge sums to the Department for Work and Pensions. The saga has been compared to the Post Office Horizon scandal.

Oksana, 53, had overstepped the earnings limit by just £1.92 a week on average while juggling caring for their son Daniel, 15, who has autism, with part-time roles as a school dinner lady and a zero-hours contract at Sports Direct.

Some weeks, she was paid just 38p more than the threshold - but for each infraction she is being forced to repay £64.60, the carer's allowance at the time.