An elderly woman discovered she had her pension payments stopped after she received a letter from HMRC informing her of her own death.

The very much “alive-and-kicking” Elizabeth Harris, 89, who lives in Carharrack, Cornwall, opened the official looking correspondence which was addressed to whoever was handling her estate.

ITV reports the official correspondence on June 15 read: “I’m sorry to hear of your recent bereavement and I recognise this is a difficult time for you”. HMRC systems had it logged that Ms Harris had passed away on May 11 this year.

A flabbergasted Ms Harris informed her family and son-in-law David Crabtree said he was told by HMRC over the phone that he would have to speak to the Department of Work and Pensions to have Ms Harris’s payments restored.

He said: “It came as a little bit of a shock to say the least, seeing as she’s alive and kicking.”

Incredibly despite flagging the error, it was not until Mr Crabtree spoke to the press this week that the pension payments were finally made to Ms Harris, with three months’ worth arriving in her bank account.

Mr Crabtree recalled: “I was told she’s dead on one system, but alive on all the other systems.

“I was told they could sort the problem out but then a month later it still wasn’t in her bank account. I made lots of calls and sent letters, but by the end of July there was still nothing. This is when we really started to panic.”

The DWP said it did not comment on individual cases, but it was understood to be examing what had happened.

Mr Crabtree continued: “Our main concern is how many people has this affected? This can’t be a one-off.

“I actually got a call from a former tax inspector thanking me for bringing this problem to the attention of others. Many elderly people might not have people that could help them if they were in this situation.

“It is ridiculous you need to go to this length to get through the system, there were so many hoops to jump through, it wasn’t a simple process.”