Imagine 89-year-old Elizabeth Harris’ shock when she opened a letter from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) telling her she was dead, writes Local Democracy Reporter Lee Trewhela.

 To make matters worse, she still hasn’t been paid her state pension three months after the mistake was made.

On June 15, Mrs Harris, who lives in Carharrack, near Redruth, received a letter from HMRC addressed to the representative for her estate, which said ‘I’m sorry to hear of your recent bereavement and I recognise this is a difficult time for you’.

“It totally shocked her as you will appreciate,” said her son-in-law Dave Crabtree, who’s the Cornwall councillor for Illogan and Portreath.

He said: “She completed a form for the executor in which she said she was still alive and put me down as the main contact, and returned it on June 22.

"She then realised her pension had been stopped. I phoned HMRC on June 28 and was told they’d received the form, but for the pension to be reinstated I had to speak to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

“A very helpful person then told me, ‘oh yes, I can see there’s a problem’. I said, yes, there is a problem, she’s still alive. What Elizabeth wanted to know is when she actually ‘passed away’ and I was told it was May 11.”

Cllr Crabtree added: “I was told the payment would be sorted as quickly as possible on June 28. I thought I’d give them a couple of weeks. Those couple of weeks turned into longer because of the number of council meetings I had. So on July 30, I had another conversation when I was told she’d passed away on one system but was still alive on another system. I was told they’d arrange for a fast payment.

“I’ve checked the bank account three times since then, including today, and there’s still nothing. I rang the number again today with a ten to 15-minute wait, then I had to press Option 4 followed by Option 1, then Option 2. ‘Everyone’s busy, please hang on, or please send an email’, but for this particular department you can’t send an email. Everything’s just about pressing a button these days.

“So we have a lady who’s 90 in October who has gone three months without her pension and no mention of compensation. At the moment she’s alright, but she’s getting to the state where she’s panicking because money is getting low. She’s frightened to spend anything in case the bills keep coming in and she’s got nothing to pay them with.”

HRMC told us that the DWP, the department responsible for pension payments, would have to comment on Mrs Harris’ mistaken death and her unpaid pension. The DWP is currently looking into Mrs Harris’ case and is likely to issue a statement in due course.