GRIEVING mum Ruth Bibby has been forced to wage a five-month fight over the £700 funeral bill for her sick baby who died after capturing the hearts of East Lancashire people.

Her tiny baby Maisie, who was born three months prematurely, hit the headlines last December when she was airlifted from Blackburn to Leicester for revolutionary treatment for a serious chest condition.

Maisie was nursed back from the brink of death and looked to have made a full recovery but she died in her mother's arms after a short illness in April.

Now her distraught mum, who is on income support, has revealed that she has been unable to recover the burial costs because of Social Security red tape.

Ruth, of Meadow Street, Accrington, left the funeral arrangements to her father Keith because she was too upset.

But when she came to claim the money to pay him back she was told she was not entitled to it because her father's name had appeared on the funeral bill.

Both Ruth and the funeral directors, Hyndburn Funeral Services, claim they have showed Social Security officials a copy of a revised bill containing Ruth's name but officials in Blackburn say they have never seen it.

Now the matter is set to go before an independent tribunal in December unless it can be resolved. Ruth said: "I was grateful to my dad for taking care of things at the time but I want to pay him back.

"The funeral directors have changed the bill so it now contains my name and sent a copy to the Social Security but they say they have not received it.

"This has been constantly on my mind and I feel like I can't lay Maisie properly to rest with this funeral bill hanging over my head."

A spokeswoman for Hyndburn Funeral Services said: "With a DSS case like this there are rigid rules. We have sent letters on numerous occasions explaining that it was Miss Bibby making the funeral arrangements through her parents and have even sent them a revised bill containing her name.

"We have done everything we can to assist in this situation and are prepared to provide the DSS with another bill made out to Miss Bibby if it will help resolve the matter."

A spokeswoman for the Benefits Agency said: "We are aware of the sensitive nature of funeral payment claims but we are bound by law.

"The Social Fund law states that a funeral payment award shall only be made to the responsible person.

"The responsible person is the person who accepts responsibility for the funeral expenses and whose name is shown on the final funeral account."

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