Local Benefits Service Near Collapse

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 8th Mar 2005

Vincent Cable has said that job cuts in Job Centre Plus, which handles benefits advice and payments in the Twickenham area, had "paralysed" the system and "significant numbers of people are in severe financial hardship as a result".

"I was alerted to the problem when a constituent, who had lost his job three months ago and couldn't get back into work quickly, could not get Job Seekers Allowance to which he was entitled or Income Support. He was surviving, literally, by asking his friends to buy him meals while his rent is unpaid. The CAB and other voluntary bodies tell me that this problem is widespread".

"What happened is that Twickenham benefits work has been transferred to Stratford in east London, personal visits to Hounslow have been stopped; and there are severe difficulties when trying to make contact by phone. The position is dreadful".