DWP apologises after delays in pension payments
Thousands of pensioners have not yet been paid their state pension because of government backlogs.
People who have just turned 66 have not been paid on time after backlogs in processing applications at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Officials have apologised and said the delays were a result of the pandemic and staffing challenges.
Some pensioners affected are struggling with the time between receiving other financial support and their promised state pension.
Hundreds of department staff have been deployed to deal with the backlog in payments, according to pensions minister Guy Opperman.
The minister said the system would be running as usual by the end of October.
A DWP spokesman apologised for the delays and said all those affected had been identified and would be processed as a priority.
Former cleaner Maia Bellamay told the BBC she had been relying on her husband’s pension to survive.
“They say I am a priority, but nothing happens. I feel very down about it as it makes me feel like it is my own fault. I have always worked and been independent with money.
“Now sometimes I want to cry. We are good citizens, made to feel that you don’t count. We put people into government who are supposed to look after us.”