A WOMAN with learning difficulties was stripped of sickness benefits after going through a lengthy fitness-for-work assessment without realising she was being tested.

The 57-year-old, who has not been named, went without food for a week because of the cut to her benefits, her family claimed.

She was left destitute after undergoing a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) work capability assessment as part of the Government's drive to move claimants off sickness benefits.

As a result of the tests, the woman was declared fit to work without understanding the purpose of the detailed process, which was carried out by private contractor Atos.

The case emerged during an ill-tempered and often unruly meeting of Holyrood's welfare reform committee yesterday, when MSPs were reprimanded for haranguing DWP officials.

Michael McMahon, the committee convener, said he had been contacted by the family of the 57-year-old woman, who believed she had been tricked out of benefits.

The woman did not go to a mainstream school and has never had a job, he said.

"The family discovered she had been living for over a week without any food because her benefits had been taken away from her," he said.

"When asked why this had happened, she said she had not understood what had happened. She didn't know there had been any assessment made. She was not aware of how the decision had been made to remove her benefits."

Mr McMahon said Atos had been able to provide details of the assessment process in the case.

But he added: "That woman didn't realise she had gone through the assessment process, so incapable was she of understanding it.

"And yet the conclusion was that she was fit for work, something she has never managed to do in her 57 years on this planet."

The details were put to Bill Gunnyeon, the DWP's chief medical adviser, as he gave evidence to the committee.

He said the case "clearly does sound concerning".

Mr Gunnyeon told MSPs: "As a healthcare professional myself, clearly I am concerned. And obviously, if we don't get it right, we need to learn from that.

"We need to look at why, on any occasion, we failed to get it right, and make sure that we adjust the system accordingly."

During the meeting, SNP MSPs were reprimanded for repeatedly haranguing DWP officials, describing their evidence as "nonsense" and "claptrap".

In one outburst, Pete Searle, the department's director of strategy, was shouted down when he suggested smaller properties were available for residents set to lose out as a result of the "bedroom tax".

Conservative committee member Alex Johnstone, speaking after the meeting, said: "It was a pathetic and puerile performance that was not worthy of any parliament, let alone Holyrood."