Retired teacher’s pension stopped as provider refuses to believe she is not dead

Eileen McGrath has been repeatedly asked by her pension provider to prove her existence since 2020. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

A retired teacher has had her pension payments stopped four times because her pension provider repeatedly refuses to accept that she is not dead.

Eileen McGrath, 85, was left without income over Christmas when Teachers’ Pensions, which administers payments on behalf of the UK government, wrongly matched her with a deceased stranger.