Whitehall IT failure 'blown out of proportion'
A Whitehall computer failure that meant pensions and benefits claims went unprocessed for days was 'blown out of proportion', the government has said.
Link: Benefits struck by network crash at DWP
Problems at the Department for Work and Pensions, which brought down a computer system for five days, meant staff could not process the claims.
Some 60,000 new claims were received while it was down, earlier this month.
Technical experts from EDS and Microsoft worked around the clock to find the fault, and subsequently an investigation has been launched to find out the problem.
However, Alan Johnson, work and pensions secretary said the issue was ‘blown out of proportion’ and the IT system was now operating as usual.
But Tory pensions spokesman David Willetts said the problems were ‘more serious’ than ministers were admitting, and demanded a full inquiry.