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A grieving couple whose baby died three hours after being born were left with a £1,000 funeral bill because of a Department of Work and Pensions blunder.

Nadia Oldale and Josh Farrow were devastated by the death of their son Luke, but had to endure the painstaking process of arranging to have him buried.

After applying for a grant to help cover the costs, the pair from Holywell were told by the DWP that they were entitled to £1,718 from their Social Fund.

But, two weeks after Luke’s funeral, the government officials wrote back to say they had “changed the decision” and that the couple had been overpaid by £1,000.

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Speaking to the Daily Post, Nadia said the news made what was already a tragic time more difficult.

The 24-year-old and her partner Josh, 27, who also have a two-year-old son called Riley, spoke of their heartbreak at a time when they should have been celebrating bringing their baby home.

“Everything was fine up until the 20-week scan, when we were told there were a couple of complications wit the baby,” she said.

“They found fluid on his brain, and he had a club foot and a cleft lip and palate.

“They started investigating whether there was anything else wrong, but all the tests came back normal.

“I went into labour two days early and Luke was born on September 27.

“He was taken to the SCBU and we were told that everything was fine but, a short while later, all hell broke loose and suddenly we were having him christened.

“He died three hours after being born.”

(Image: Stacey Oliver)

A coroner’s report later revealed that Luke had Oral Facial Digital Syndrome - a rare genetic condition which affects the development of the structure of the oral cavity.

Nadia said: “While we were at the hospital, one of the midwives mentioned that we may be able to apply for grant funding towards the cost of a funeral.

“We’d just lost our baby and our heads were all over the place.

“Obviously, we weren’t expecting to have to do this and didn’t know where to start. All we were prepared for was bringing our son home.”

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The couple applied for funding over the phone and were told they had met the criteria.

They even received a letter confirming that they were entitled to £1,718.

(Image: Stacey Oliver)

“We went ahead and booked everything and picked a plot for our baby,” said Nadia.

“Then, two weeks after the funeral, we received a call from the funeral directors telling us that the full amount hadn’t been covered.

“When I contacted DWP, they told me they’d ‘changed their minds’ and that a mistake had been made by the decision-maker.

“There was no apology, no sympathy, nothing.

“It took me calling them to find out that they weren’t going to honour the original amount, and then they wrote to me to confirm that.”

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The letter from the DWP states: “We have looked again at the facts and evidence we used to make our decision. As a result, we have changed the decision.”

It says the couple should have been awarded £700 and adds: “The maximum we can pay for other funeral expenses is £700.”

Nadia said: “It’s not about the money. It’s the fact that they said yes and then said no.

“We spent a fortune buying things for a baby we never got. We didn’t expect to have to pay out for a funeral that we were under the impression was covered by the grant.”

A DWP spokesman said: “Our thoughts are with the family at this difficult time and we do apologise for the error made.”