Unpaid carer to challenge DWP allowance overpayment penalty in court

It takes the little people to stand up,' says Andrea Tucker, who was told to repay 4,600 after caring for mother for 15 years

An unpaid carer is to challenge in the courts an unfair and nonsensical" demand by welfare officials to repay 4,600 in carer's allowance overpayments, five years after being advised by the same department she was following benefit rules correctly.

Andrea Tucker, a part-time charity shop worker who cared full-time for her mother for 15 years, told the Guardian the prospect of going to tribunal had made her ill with stress but she was determined to get justice.