THE GOVERNMENT owes Britain's pensioners up to £1B in pensions and other benefits. The failure of the Government to repair the new National Insurance computer, since it was shut down in the summer, has cost some new pensioners over £100 a week from their pensions enhancement.

It has become more and more apparent, from recent reports, that new claimants have been very badly affected and that the Government had underestimated the problem from the start.

Back in the Summer, the Secretary of State Alistair Darling assured everybody that the system would catch up with the problem "in the next couple of weeks." He also maintained that the "great majority will be paid at the correct rate."

It is time for the Government to come clean about the extent of the problem and how they intend to sort this out before the new financial year.

Many new pensioners are deeply worried and have already contacted their MPs. But it has been very difficult to get any real detail out of the Government as to how extensive this problem is.

I am therefore urging anybody who has faced a problem with regard to the payment or level of their pension to contact me so that we can assess the scope of the problem and hold the Government to account as soon as the House returns. Please write to me at the House of Commons, Westminster, London SWIA OAA.

Iain Duncan Smith MP

Shadow Secretary of State for Social Security

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