My mum's £201 a week state pension is her only income and it suddenly stopped

The state pension means everything to Elizabeth Fletcher, who lives in Hemsworth, a town located in West Yorkshire.

The elderly person who is 90 years old belongs to the group of 25% of retirees who rely on it as their primary financial support.

Most importantly, Elizabeth relies on her state pension and pension credit payments totaling £201 per week to cover the expenses for her recent move into a care home on January 15th.

Elizabeth's life was in complete turmoil when the Government ceased all payments just 11 days after she settled in on January 26.

In the next nine weeks, Elizabeth failed to receive almost £2,000 in payment.

Elizabeth Fletcher, aged 90, resides in Hemsworth, located in West Yorkshire. She relies on her state pension to cover the expenses of residing in a care facility. Wendy, her daughter, is pictured alongside her.

Although Wendy did her best to uncover the reason behind her mother's cessation of state pension payments, she was unsuccessful in obtaining any clarifications from the Department for Work and Pensions.

Wendy, a 63-year-old resident of Wakefield who lives nine miles away, expressed concern over her mother's potential eviction from the care home due to financial shortcomings.

Wendy expressed her overwhelming distress as she carries the burden of her unwell mother's problem. Despite her mother's incapacity to deal with it, Wendy has taken the responsibility. Unfortunately, seeking help from DWP seems unachievable as it is difficult to contact them.

I have been extremely frustrated and putting in maximum effort to solve the issue.

On January 26, Wendy informed the pensions department that her mother would be relocating to a care facility.

Elizabeth used to receive attendance allowance until the month of January. It is a type of financial assistance given to individuals who require in-home care due to their severe disability. Wendy informed the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) about her mother's change in situation when she relocated to the care facility.

She was anticipating the discontinuation of her mother's attendance allowance, however, she was taken aback when both the state pension and pension credit payments were abruptly terminated.

Wendy expressed that she attempted to follow all guidelines but it turned into a terrible experience.

I have been receiving invoices continuously from the care home and I am anxious that my loved one might get kicked out due to failure to pay.

During her younger years, Elizabeth, who is now a mother to five children and a grandmother to five as well, earned the nickname "The Shirley Bassey of the North" for her singing performances at the working men's clubs.

Throughout her life, she held many different positions, one of which was working as an assistant in a hospital.

According to Wendy, Elizabeth's inability to perform basic tasks like making tea was a sign that she needed round-the-clock care. Wendy thinks that Elizabeth is exhibiting symptoms of dementia.

Wendy, who dedicated over four decades to working in the police force, serving as a police community support officer in her most recent role, is now battling leukemia and has opted to retire early. She shared that the experience has greatly impacted both her physical and emotional well-being.

The ex-officer has devoted a lot of time to contacting the pension department, but despite her hard work, nobody assisted in restarting the payments.

Wendy had to endure long waiting times to get in touch with an official. However, to her annoyance, she was confronted by workers who were impolite, unaccommodating, and lacked knowledge to settle her problem. To add more to her frustration, on three separate occasions, her phone calls were abruptly disconnected.

She stated that the individuals she spoke with on the phone repeatedly hung up on her. She was unsure if the reason was due to the information becoming too difficult for them to understand, but each call ended suddenly without warning.

Whenever the call ended abruptly, Wendy had to endure another hour of waiting for a different staff member to speak with. Her exasperation was so overwhelming that she burst into tears.

Wendy reached out to her local MP Simon Lightwood in March because she was extremely worried about her mother's potential eviction from the care facility. Her concern had reached a breaking point, and as a result, she contacted her Member of Parliament for assistance. Mr. Lightwood took action by sending a letter to the Department for Work and Pensions on behalf of Wendy.

Wendy was feeling relieved when she noticed that an amount of £1,809.45 had been transferred into Elizabeth's account after nine weeks of payment discontinuation. However, no explanation was provided to her via letter or phone call.

"She claims that one day the money mysteriously appeared without any explanation or apologies from them."

The DWP confirmed to Money Mail that the payments would continue as usual when they were contacted.

A representative stated that they have resumed Mrs. Fletcher's pension payments and provided compensation to account for the duration of the suspension. They express regret for any troubles incurred.

It is known that the pensions department made an administrative mistake which resulted in the cessation of payments.

In previous instances, Money Mail has come across situations where the state pension payments were erroneously reduced or discontinued after the receiver notified about a change in their situation.

One example involves a woman who lost part of her pension after her spouse passed away. On other occasions, the suspensions have occurred due to technical errors in the computer systems.

Last year, the authorities publicly acknowledged that they had committed consistent miscalculations in their computation of state pensions.

Approximately 237,000 senior females have been impacted, and it's been proposed that they are entitled to almost £1.5 billion due to the state pension being underpaid.

MPs expressed their concerns to the DWP last week regarding a group of women who may have been given insufficient state pensions.

Women who were divorced and reached the state pension age prior to 2016 may not have received fair compensation if they unintentionally missed out on additional payments based on their former husbands' contributions.

A previous minister who worked with pensions named Sir Steve Webb, as well as being a partner at a consultancy called LCP, has been the person at the forefront of drawing attention to situations where people have received less than they were owed. He states that Elizabeth's circumstance is not acceptable, but it is something that has happened before and should not come as a surprise.

According to him, the DWP is so large that individuals can easily become overlooked.

It's reasonable to assume that this kind of scenario occurs frequently, especially as our population continues to age and require more care. Therefore, the DWP ought to have established procedures in order to make the process smoother.

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