A family were forced to spend days unable to shower after an error saw their Personal Independent Payment (PIP) benefit wrongly recalled.
Sarah Brown, 33, lives with partner, Stephen, 28 and their five children, Amelia, 13, Macy, 11, Ellie, eight, Libby, two and Armani, who is eight months old.
She expected the PIP payment to be directly paid into her bank account on June 1.
But the family were later told by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) there had been a mix-up with the payment and it had been recalled, Lancs Live reported.
This left the family without any money over the recent four-day bank holiday as the DWP told Sarah it would take five working days to fix the issue.
Sarah once worked as a support worker, but soon started suffering problems with her back where she found herself unable to stand for her entire shift.
As a result, she decided to leave her job and apply for Personal Independence Payment and nominated Stephen as her full-time carer.
Sarah, 33, said: "I'm on Personal Independence Payment and I get paid four weekly and the payment was due on the third.
"They told me I'd be paid on the first because of the bank holiday so I would get it early.
"I looked in my bank to see if it had definitely gone in and it hadn't. I phoned the DWP, I phoned four times that day and they all said different things."
The recalled payment meant the family, from Workington, were unable to top up their smart meter with gas and electricity which meant they could not shower for days.
Sarah and Stephen were already struggling with the cost of living, and at times went without food themselves so their children could eat.
Sarah said: "Myself and my partner have gone without showers for days so that the kids would be clean and we do the same with food.
“I usually make one meal that will last all of us, like chicken casserole, but sometimes when there’s not enough, I go without.
“I’ve gone days without proper food before, only eating a slice of toast or some biscuits to get by so that the main meal is left for the kids."
She added: "They said there was nothing they can do about it until they sort the payment.
"So I said you're going to see me stuck with five children and an eight-month-old baby with no gas, no electricity. That was my shopping money and my gas."
Sarah shared her story to highlight the damaging effects not receiving PIP payments on time can have on families. She was even forced to appeal for help on Facebook - something she said was embarrassing for her.
She said: "It's not my error, it's their error. We were so stuck. All the food banks were shut. We hadn't had a bath or shower since Tuesday.
"We put money on the meter but that went into debt on the gas. We had no food, we had bread and butter. We were finding things in the cupboard like tins to try and make something.
"I felt like I was begging. To put an appeal out on Facebook was quite embarrassing. All that wasn't my fault and on day four we managed to get a shower this morning."
A DWP spokesperson told Lancs Live: “Due to a change in her circumstances, Ms Brown’s PIP payment amount has recently changed.
"In order to prevent an overpayment, Ms Brown’s latest PIP payment was recalled. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. Ms Brown has now been paid her PIP award in full and her monthly Universal Credit payment was unaffected.”
