The Department of Work and Pensions have apologised and reimbursed the estate of a pensioner who took her own life after they wrongly stripped her of her pension.
Joy Worrall, from Flintshire, had just £5 left to her name when she stepped off the side of a quarry near to her home.
The 81-year-old had been left reliant on her savings when the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) wrongly stopped paying her pension.
Instead of turning to her family and friends for help, proud Joy ran through her £5,000 life savings.
Yesterday, an inquest heard that Ben, who spoke to his mum up to four times a week, found she was missing from her North Wales cottage last November. A police search was launched and her body was found the next day at the quarry near her home in Rhes-y-Cae, Flintshire.
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It later emerged that Joy, who had been receiving a state pension and pension credits, had told the DWP in 2014 that she had received an inheritance, although it was not a large amount.
She was assured the money would not affect her, but in July 2017 “action was taken to suspend her pension credit”.
And instead of her state pension continuing while the credits were reviewed, “an administrative error” led to all her payments being stopped.
Now the DWP has apologised for its error - and said it will reimburse Joy's 'estate.'
A spokesman said: "Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Mrs Worrall. We apologise unreservedly to Mrs Worrall’s family for the error that led to her pension payments being stopped.
“We have reviewed our processes and acted so that benefits are no longer linked on our systems, to try to ensure this could not happen again.”
The apology bears a striking resemblance to one issued following the death of Liverpool man Stephen Smith , who was wrongly denied vital benefits in the lead up to his death last month.
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After Mr Smith's death, the DWP again said it would 'review' processes to try and learn lessons from the tragic situation.
But Mrs Worrall's son Ben told the Mirror yesterday that the department has a 'case to answer.'
He said: "There’s some element of duty of care they’re meant to perform for vulnerable people in society. That has not been carried out, by their own admission.
“I don’t blame the people at the DWP – people make mistakes.
"But they have a duty of care to put a system in place where this cannot happen.”
He added: "My mum was an extremely proud lady who obviously didn’t want to cause a fuss or be a burden. She couldn’t tell her son and best friend she had some issues with money.
"She felt uncomfortable taking money from the state anyway. I feel we’ve been let down by the DWP, who have failed in their duty of care.”
