A retired NHS worker has been left in severe financial distress after the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) mistakenly recorded her as deceased, stopping her pension payments for months. The error was only corrected after the woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, contacted a consumer champion column for help.
Pension stopped after being declared dead
The woman, who worked for the NHS for 11 years before retiring to South Africa in 2015, stopped receiving her NHS pension in May. When she called to ask why, she was told she was deceased. Despite repeated calls and emails, she received only auto-generated responses.
This was not the first time she had faced such a problem. In December, she was without her pension for four months after someone changed her account details and her pension was paid to the wrong person. That issue was resolved after she sent identity verification, but now she was again without income, this time because she was officially dead.
Severe financial strain and failed attempts to resolve
The woman and her husband were under severe financial distress because of the error. She could no longer afford international calls to the NHSBSA, which administers the pension scheme, and had to live with a broken tooth for a month because she could not cover the dentist's fee.
Last month, she flew to the UK with money borrowed from a friend to try to resolve the problem in person. However, promised call-backs did not happen, and she was told two months after her first complaint that her “death” needed to be referred to the fraud department. Days after her arrival, an email informed her that due to a system upgrade, NHSBSA would only be able to assist with general queries for eight days. A week later, she was told an investigation into her case was required and she would hear back within 30 days.
Arrears paid after intervention
Three weeks after the consumer champion column contacted NHSBSA, it finally paid the arrears, amounting to three months' worth, into her account and apologised for the distress and hardship caused. An NHSBSA spokesperson said: “While we cannot go into the specific details of the case, an error was made in the records, which we have now corrected. We take our responsibility to members extremely seriously, and this case has shown us where we need to do better.”
The authority said it would discuss compensation with the woman, including for the expenses she incurred. The woman remains in the UK, apart from her elderly husband, sleeping on a friend's sofa while waiting for the matter to be fully resolved.
