Death leap of proud gran, 81, after pension admin error left her skint
Shattered son’s fury at DWP bungle
A PROUD gran whose pension was wrongly stopped in a benefits bungle leapt to her death rather than ask for help when her money ran out. 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.
It later emerged that divorcee 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.
Joy, who had worked in the drawing office at the former De Havilland aircraft factory in Hawarden, used to collect her pension every week from her local post office.
When her son contacted the post office about her pension after her death, he was stunned to discover she had not collected it for more than a year.
Mrs Worrall had not told him of her troubles and seemed not to have queried her frozen payments with the DWP as there was no record of correspondence.
Ben told her inquest in Ruthin that his mum had only £5 in her account when she died, having spent her life savings.
Suzanne Mitchelson of the DWP admitted the two pensions should have been “decombined” and her basic pension continued. She wrote to Ben: “I Joy told no one of her troubles am sorry to say that due to an administrative error this did not happen.”
The inquest heard Mrs Worrall had previously said she would throw herself off the quarry if she ended up with any major health or financial worries. North Wales East and Central coroner John Gittins recorded a conclusion of suicide.
Later Ben, from Rhosemor, said: “My mum was an extremely proud lady who didn’t want to be a burden. She couldn’t tell her son and best friend she had issues with money. She felt uncomfortable taking money from the state anyway. We’ve been let down by the DWP, who have failed in their duty of care.” The DWP said: “We apologise unreservedly to Mrs Worrall’s family for the error that led to her pension payments being stopped and pledge to learn the lessons.”
Charity Age Cymru said: “We urge anyone who is suddenly faced with a life-changing incident, such as a sudden drop in income, to seek help from support charities such as Age Cymru or speak to a friend or a trusted relative.”
We’ve been let down by the DWP who failed in their duty of care