SIR – I am a 58-year-old woman and have worked for the vast majority of my adult life. I have lived through difficult times but have striven to raise a family and be a productive member of society.

I get up at 4am for work and struggle to make ends meet, and in recent times those struggles have been a battle, but I was brought up with the ethos that everyone should work for their living and that remains with me to this day.

I recently lost my son and could not afford the funeral. I contacted the Department for Work and Pensions but was told I did not qualify. This has been the most devastating period of my life but I have had to continue holding down a full-time job.

I know that Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister but to a majority of the working class she brought devastation and humiliation. I am flabbergasted, dismayed and downright disgusted that I couldn’t afford my own son’s funeral but as a taxpayer I am expected to pay for a woman who brought nothing but hardship.

Who asked me if I wanted to pay? If I could I would pay for my own son. As it is I will be paying for his funeral until 2016.

Kathleen Normington, Knutsford Grove, Holme Wood