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The son of an 81-year-old who killed herself after her pension was frozen due to an administrative error says she did not want to cause a fuss or be a burden and was too proud to ask her own children for money.

Joy Worrall did not tell her family that her state pension had been frozen after a mistake by the Department of Work and Pensions.

The error left her with just £5 in the bank.

The mix-up meant she had no money coming and instead of asking for help for her financial troubles, used her £5,000 life savings.

When she was down to £5, she threw herself off a quarry which she had always threatened to do if she had major health or money worries.

After an inquest in Ruthin yesterday her son Ben Worrall said the Department of Work and Pensions, who have apologised for the error, were “guilty of a failure of duty of care”.

Mr Worrall said: “My mother was a proud woman who was simply left without any capital.”

He said he had raised the issue with David Hanson (MP for Delyn) to try to ensure no-one else found themselves in the same position.

“I feel we have been let down by the DWP who have failed in their duty of care.

"It’s a disgrace how this can happen in modern society and what concerns me is that this could happen to someone else.”

(Image: North Wales Police)

He added: “The pain will never go away – I have lost my mum who was in a fit and healthy state.

“The DWP has a case to answer. There is some element of duty of care they are meant to perform for vulnerable people in society.

“That has not been carried out by their own admission.

“I don’t blame the people at the DWP – people make mistakes.

“But they have a duty of care to put a system in place where this cannot happen.

“My mum was an extremely proud lady who obviously did not want to cause a fuss or be a burden.

“She could not tell her son and best friend that she had some issues with money.

“She felt uncomfortable about taking money from the state anyway.

“She was a loving grandmother to my son Max. But how can you explain to a child what has happened?”

The Department for Work and Pensions has apologised to Mrs Worrall’s family and pledged to “learn the lessons” from what happened.

In a statement read at the hearing, Mr Worrall, of Rhosesmor, near Holywell, Flinstshire, said she was fit and well but kept things to herself if anything bothered her.

He spoke to his mother, who lived nearby in Church Terrace, Rhes-y-Cae, three or four times a week and last contacted her on November 19 last year.

Two days later, after a friend contacted him to ask where his mother was, he went to her cottage and raised the alarm when he could not find her. Her car was also missing.

A police search was launched and a helicopter was called in.

The following morning members of the North East Wales Search and Rescue team found Mrs Worrall’s body at the foot of a 40-foot face at Rhes y Cae quarry.

It later emerged Joy, a divorcee, who had been receiving a state pension and pension credits, told the DWP in 2014 that she had received an inheritance.

She was assured it would not affect her pension but in 2017, “action was taken to suspend her pension credit”.

(Image: Google)

And instead of her state pension continuing while the credits were reviewed, “an administrative error” led to all her payments being stopped.

Suzanne Mitchelson, the DWP’s complaints resolution manager, admitted the two pensions should have been “decombined” and her basic pension continued.

But in a letter to Mr Worrall, she wrote: “I am sorry to say that due to an administrative error this did not happen.”

Mr Worrall told the inquest his mother had only £5 in her account on her death, having apparently spent all of her £5,000 savings.

Recording a conclusion of suicide, John Gittins, coroner for North Wales East and Central, said it was important that he heard the background, but added: “It would be inappropriate for me to comment further”.

A DWP spokesperson said: “Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Mrs Worrall. 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.”

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