He believes the government should investigate if it is responsible for these errors, which have left some carers with criminal records and significant debt.

Duncan Smith urged the department to stop pursuing repayments and focus on determining its own role in the overpayments.

The Guardian reported that carers are being demanded to repay large sums of money by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for unwittingly exceeding earnings limits on their carer's allowance, risking criminal prosecution.

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith urged the DWP to pause these demands and review the situation to ensure it was not their mistake.

He suggested merging carer's allowance into universal credit and learning from past errors with tax credits.

The Carers Trust, an organization representing over a million unpaid carers in Britain, criticized the government for aggressively targeting and pushing carers into poverty.