Council’s benefit mistake costs couple £7,200 a year

A terminally ill grandmother and her husband are thousands of pounds worse off after following advice about welfare payments from their local council, leaving them struggling to afford food.

- ALBERT TOTH

Sandra and Colin Ralphson, from Buxton in Derbyshire, are £600 a month worse off because of the error, which the council admits was not the couple's fault.

The issue began after Mrs Ralphson, 60, was wrongly told in August last year by High Peak Borough Council that she must move from "legacy" benefits to universal credit within two weeks, as her husband, Colin, was turning 66 - pension age. After this point, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) would end her main benefit, the local authority said, making it "no longer possible" for the council to help with housing costs.

This information was wrong - something Mrs Ralphson only found out long after taking the advice, which is now set to cost her and her husband £7,200 a year on a permanent basis. The error has forced them to "give up everything", Mrs Ralphson said, as they cut back on all but the bare essentials to cope with the loss.

Mrs Ralphson suffers from lupus, stage 3 kidney failure, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She said she has lost a lot of weight, as she prioritises buying food for her husband, who recently suffered a heart attack. "I don't want to go out of the house," she said. "I don't want to get dressed. I think: 'This isn't me.' I'm Yorkshire. I should be stronger, but I'm not. You put on a brave face, but what can you do?"