A PENSIONER has hit out after a computer blip bungled her benefits payments and left her in debt.

Heather Jackson, of Trafford Gardens, Barrow, was among hundreds of thousands of claimants to miss state earnings related pension scheme payments because of computer chaos at the Contributions Office in Newcastle.

Claimants of retirement pension, widows benefits and incapacity benefit have missed out on millions of pounds worth of payments.

Mrs Jackson turned 60 last November and after completing the necessary forms was told her pension payments would start in January.

"They wanted all sorts of information and the forms were very complicated, but after filling them in I have only just received my first full payment," she said.

"They told me they couldn't fully calculate my pension, so I have been receiving just three-quarters of it. My pension has been £15 a week short, which has put me well and truly on the breadline. Eight months of this fiasco has left me in debt," she said.

Mrs Jackson, who gave up work aged 55 after undergoing a triple heart bypass operation, has taken up her case with Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans.

"I am speaking out on behalf of those who still aren't receiving payments. I have lived in my house for 40 years and brought up two children on my own. I have worked very hard and put a lot into this country. Now I want to show the system up for what it is.

"They say computers are the be all and end all of modern life, but when they go wrong everything falls apart. I am calling on anyone in the same position to get their MP involved. I am speaking out for the lowly British pensioner. We should fight this," she said.

The Parliamentary Committee of Public Accounts this week described the situation as "profoundly unsatisfactory."

The Department for Social Security has offered to make compensation payments of £10 to everyone affected by the computer chaos.

A spokesman for Help the Aged, the campaign group for the elderly, said: "This situation is disgraceful. The computer chaos has caused great distress. We have been contacted by numerous pensioners who are very upset.

"We have written to the Government with our concerns and will be repeating our calls for the problems to be sorted out as soon as possible."

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