Pensioners and disabled people often face delays in receiving their benefits due to blunders by the government agency responsible, an influential committee of MPs has found.

In its report, the Commons public accounts committee found that 40 per cent of appeals against benefit decisions are successful, a quarter of which are a result of errors by Benefit Agency staff.

Forum Response: The Disabilities Trust

James Rye, external affairs director at The Disabilities Trust, told ePolitix.com: "We are very pleased the committee has recognised that the benefit claims of disabled people must be settled quickly and conclusively, avoiding the need for appeals which are costly to the taxpayer and stressful for those of our service users who depend on these benefits to provide for their care

"We also welcome the committee's comments on the need for the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that the quality of medical assessments provided by SEMA were up to standard adding that it was worrying that so many benefit claimants are currently being turned away from appointments."

Forum Response: Age Concern

A spokeswoman told ePolitix.com: "Age Concern spends much time encouraging older people to claim benefits that are rightfully theirs and we find that ill or disabled people are often in the most need and least able to cope with the systems.

"The delays and other administrative problems identified by the Public Accounts Committee can cause considerable distress and make people even more reluctant to claim much needed help.The government needs to take this report seriously and ensure changes are introduced to address the problems that the Public Accounts Committee has highlighted."

Forum Response: Help the Aged

Mervyn Kohler, head of public affairs at Help the Aged, told ePolitix.com: "It is appalling that a quarter of successful appeals against benefit decisions reveal errors by Benefit Agency staff.

The root of the problem is the byzantine complexity of the system, which deters potential beneficiaries applying in the first place, which is clearly poorly understood by its administrators, and will get even more confusing if the present Pension Credit proposals are implemented.

"The Pensions Service has just been launched, yet amongst its strategic objectives there is scant reference to improving the accuracy of benefit decisions. The bold decision, of course, would be to lift older people off a dependency on benefits, rather than enmesh over half our retired population in the world of means-testing."