Pensioner Joy Worrall killed herself after STATE pension was frozen.

[HelenaDove]

She was on pension credit and received an inheritance back in 2014 which she reported.

Then in 2017 they stopped her state pension and pension credit when it should only have been the latter which should have been adjusted.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/may/09/woman-81-killed-herself-after-pension-was-frozen-in-error?CMP=share_btn_tw

rightsinfo.org/81-year-old-woman-kills-herself-after-pension-error/

"An 81-year-old woman killed herself after she was left with no money due to an administrative error which froze her pension.

Joy Worrall had just £5 in her account when she decided to jump from a quarry and end her life, a decision that her family said was motivated by shame.

The pensioner had been receiving a state pension topped up by pension credits, but in July 2017 her situation was reassessed after she declared she had received some inheritance in 2014.

Instead of just stopping the credits, the Department for Work and Pensions also stopped her state pension and left Mrs Worrall to survive on the £5000 she had in savings for over a year until she took her life in November 2018."

Thanks for the daily ‘let’s read this ridiculously morbid and personal story on the DM’ post. I don’t understand why people want to read this kind of stuff.

Except its not from the DM

I do not click on these links, but
why did her family not help her sort this error out? That's what family does, even a neighbour could - and probably would - have done this.

She was too proud to tell her family according to the article and always said she would take herself off to the quarry rather than be a burden if she ever experienced health problems or financial hardship. Awful story, an error easily sorted but she wasn’t able / willing to access any support. Poor woman.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/son-oap-who-jumped-death-15022831

She was too proud to tell her family what was going on.

Truly awful, and really sad she was not able to reach out to organisations which could have helped her sort this out.

Family did not know.

It is very difficult for some people to understand life before the creation of social media but believe or not people were more reserved. They did not air there dirty laundry in public and were generally more reserved.

She felt shame. Shame she should not have felt. Shame caused by one person who probably was too busy gossiping on social media to concentrate on their paid job. That persons fuck up means this lady is now dead. I hope that person now knows what they have done. Although in all fairness they will be all over social media asking for sympathy instead of actually feeling shame.

Apparently they now have systems in place to prevent a similar fuck up.

Ah, that'll be "lessons learned" then.

I saw a tweet from a CAB worker who dealt with a case like this.

Exactly Mrs Pear My parents are 83 and have a similar mindset

Not directly relevant - but is the state pension affected by you getting an inheritance? I thought once you had enough NI contributions you had it for life. Not sure how pension credit works though.

state pension shouldnt be affected.

Yes Boggles i suspect this will be uncomfortable unpalatable reading for some

very sad story, the person/s responsible should be held to account

It is nothing less than really sad story ...

But even if she didn’t tell her family .... surely they would be able to guess or at least have some idea?? Does no-one talk to their families?

So what happens if someone has no family and this happens to them. The fact that a CAB worker has already dealt with a case like this shows it wasnt a one off.

How about they take some responsibility for a mistake.............you know like claimants are expected to when they make a mistake.

My parents were extraordinarily discreet about their finances. So discreet that when I was helping DF sign his last tax return, because he was too weak from cancer to sit up, he asked that I keep my eyes closed while I tidied the papers away. DM was the same; her final accounts were startling.
They were both born in 1930, when money was not discussed, ever.

They are actually referred to as The Silent Generation

There's a nasty old world outside your bubble ms boggle, pretending it isn't there won't keep it from you. You didn't have to open this thread, it was clear from the title that it isn't about cuddly pink kittens.

Another incredibly sad story about how devastating the consequences are when idiotic government administrators can’t do their jobs properly. Sadly, I’m sure it won’t mean an end to this sort of cock up and we will see other stories like that of poor Mrs Worrall despite “lessons being learned”

She didnt receive any pension for 18 months. Surely it shows up on their system that it hasnt gone out.

Another heartbreaking consequence of this government.

Bless you Joy Worrall.

.

benefitsinthefuture.com/identifying-the-needs-shortfall-for-older-people/