A Lincolnshire woman in her eighties was told she had passed away in a letter from her pension provider.
The blunder included a short message of condolence from an employee of Standard Life but Spalding resident Mrs Fulton, although frail, remains very much alive.
The letter was sent to the 80-year-old’s home last month and addressed to the executors of Mrs B Fulton.
The pensioner was described as being “extremely upset”, but Standard Life have since apologized for the mistake, blaming it on human error.
“You can imagine how shocked I was to receive the letter,” Mrs Fulton told the Telegraph. “Fortunately I still have my wits about me, but I dread to think what the consequences could have been for someone in more fragile health than myself.”
Standard Life explained that a routine pension payment failed and a staff member had incorrectly marked the reason for the payment being returned as “deceased”.
A spokesman told the Telegraph: “We are very sorry this occurred and for the concern it has caused. We apologized immediately and carried out a review to understand what had happened. We reissued the pension payment immediately and sent Mrs Fulton flowers and £50 as apology too.”
