Sarah McKenzie, from Belle Vale, says she has been receiving letters from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) debt division demanding £5,444.19 for five years
A mum was wrongly slapped with a £5,000 debt letter from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) due to a shocking case of mistaken identity.
Sarah McKenzie, from Belle Vale, has been receiving letters from the DWP’s debt division demanding £5,444.19 for five years. Despite previously contacting the DWP and being assured that she does not owe the money, Sarah continued to receive the debt letters. She claims they are now impacting her mental health.
Sarah, who cares for her 23 year old autistic son Adam, said: “Our national insurance numbers are the only difference, it’s a case of mistaken identity. For five years I’ve been getting these letters demanding money. It has this other woman’s national insurance number on the letters. Every time I call the DWP to complain they confirm I don’t owe anything and I ask them to stop the letters.”
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The DWP has since apologised and confirmed that its records have been corrected. A spokesperson confirmed Ms McKenzie will no longer receive the letters, reports the Liverpool Echo.
However, Sarah told the ECHO that the letters briefly stopped until she moved address and they started again around three years ago. The mum claims it’s now affecting her mental health as the amount of money being demanded is “stressing her out.”
She expressed: “It’s bringing an immense stress. I have a disabled son with autism who is really poorly at the moment, he is under the hospital awaiting surgery and this added stress is not something I need right now.
“When I got the first letter I was suicidal, I looked at the amount it said I owed on the letter and I thought ‘what the hell, how am I going to pay this.’ I’m a single mum on benefits, I don’t have that kind of money, I was crying.
“I couldn’t cope with that kind of stress. I phoned up to query it and that’s when they first told me the letters were meant for the other woman. The amount they demanded was so scary.”
A DWP spokesperson stated: “We have now corrected Ms McKenzie’s records, and she will no longer receive these letters. We apologise for the inconvenience caused.”
