Woman surprised to be told her vital benefits were being stopped 'because she was dead'

A woman has told of her shock after she was informed her benefits had been stopped because she was 'dead'.

Ann Smith, 65, from Kirkdale in Liverpool says she was left with 'no money' after discovering the vital payments from Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) had abruptly ended, reports Liverpool Echo.

The former care worker was forced to stop work several years ago as she suffered with a number of debilitating conditions including Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and osteoporosis, which weakens her bones and means she regularly suffers breaks and fractures.

After noticing that her usual payments had not arrived in her account last month, Ann contacted the DWP.

The former care worker suffers from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and osteoporosis. File image (Getty Images/Tetra images RF)

She was then told to her great surprise that her benefits had been stopped because - according to their records - she had died in August.

Recalling the moment she was told of their mistake, she said: "I couldn't believe it, I said well that's news to me. I even got sent a letter addressed to the executor of my will."

They haven't told me how they could make a mistake like this, no one even checked to see that I wasn't dead, they just stopped my benefits", she added.

Ann was even forced to travel to a local job centre to provide identification, and said her son had to come along to help her as her health conditions made the trip difficult.

The Department for Work and Pensions say they had apologised 'unreservedly' for their mistake (In Pictures via Getty Images)

While she proved that she was, in fact, not dead and got her payments restarted afterwards, she was left without money for over a week.

Ann has now decided to go public with the issue as she has still not been given an explanation for how the DWP believed she was dead - and fears the same mistake could affect more vulnerable people.

Reflecting on the distress caused by the incident, she said: "I really hope this doesn't happen to someone else. I am lucky because I have got family who support me but imagine if this happened to someone who was on their own and they were left without any support?

"This government needs to go, they don't care about any of us."

In response, a spokesperson for the Department of Work and Pensions said: "We would like to apologise unreservedly to Ms Smith for the distress and inconvenience caused by this mistake.

“All action to correct her claim has been taken, and all benefit arrears have been paid to her.”