Firstly, I am due for a serious medical operation. Secondly, because of a two page letter I received from Social Services threatening to cut off my age pension.

As regards the letter from Social Services, I wonder why this government feels it is necessary to accuse and threaten an aged pensioner. Can’t they first try being civil?

The situation is that while I had kept Social Services up to date on the current balance of my assets, I had failed to realise that the original number of the fund I had given them was changed.

When I first opened the two page letter, I did not understand what had happened. I was being accused of emptying my retirement account. They didn’t politely ask, they demanded to know what I had done with the money. They demanded receipts and I had 21 days to supply this information. If I didn’t, I could lose my pension.

I first went to the Bathurst Centrelink office hoping I could clear up the matter.

I showed them my current account, its number, and my balance. I said I didn’t know anything about this other account. They, in turn, showed me a copy of a letter I had signed around a year-and-a-half earlier with a different number.

I didn’t understand why the number was different and tried to show them my current account balance and its number. They didn’t appear to be interested. I left very concerned.

I later learned that when my fund had changed my investments into a different product, they had also changed the number of my account.

So when Social Services asked my fund for an update of my original account, they were told that the account had been closed. Why my fund didn’t tell them the money had been switched, or why Social Services didn’t ask whether or not another account had been opened, or why Social Services didn’t look at the balance I had provided them months ago and understood what had happened, I don’t know.

I was also told later by my fund that this sort of misunderstanding happens on a regular basis and that distressed retirees contact them full of concern.

I find it extremely depressing knowing that as I get older and my mental state becomes weaker, I am likely to fail in some other aspect of Centrelink book-keeping. And if I am unable to reply to their demands in the way they expect, a government intent on clawing back as much money as it can will end my pension.