failing to submit their benefit continuation forms.

While roughly half of those people contacted the Social Insurance office to have their pensions re-instated, a computer glitch in January resulted in them not receiving the arrears monies from the months the funds had been cut off.

This left some affected seniors angry and confused.

Concerned seniors contacted the Royal Gazette after discovering that their pensions statements had not been brought up to date in January as they had expected.

"As I am 90 years of age,'' wrote one senior in a letter to the Royal Gazette Editor, "I find it difficult to pursue the matter. Are there other seniors whose pensions have been cut off in this way?'' "Fortunately for me, I am not solely dependent on my pension to live,'' wrote another person affected, "however, what about the many people who are? Is this a sample of our `People's Government'?'' But Insurance Officer Kelly Hodsell at Social Insurance said yesterday that seniors who had contacted the office should not worry and that they would find their arrears payments included in their February 15 statements. The missing payments were related to the contributory pension scheme and Ms Hodsell said that benefits under this scheme ranged from roughly $330 a month to just over $800 a month. "It varies depending on contributions made,'' she said.

Ms Hodsell said while a system error prevented the arrears funds being included in the January 15 statements, those seniors should have received their regular monthly allotment at that time.

"There are also a small number of people who haven't been reinstated yet,'' she said. "We've found that some seniors don't rely on the money on a monthly basis and they don't always check their balances.'' Ms Hodsell urged all seniors to check their statements to ensure they were still receiving their funds as roughly 60 seniors had not yet submitted their forms to be re-instated.

"We send out continuation of benefit forms to ensure that people are still alive and entitled to benefits. We have to be sure the benefits aren't being cashed falsely,'' she said.

The continuation of benefit forms originally went out last February, she added, and reminders and final notices followed, warning that benefits would be stopped if they were not returned. "Sometimes people change addresses and don't receive the notices,'' Ms Hodsell said. "Basically the purpose of the stoppage is to make sure people come to us and update their information.'' Although 121 seniors were affected by the stoppage this year, Ms Hodsell pointed out that her office dealt with a total of 5,600 seniors. Social Assistance is also working to clarify Hospital Insurance statements, she added, after some seniors were confused by negative balances on the statements.

Age Concern executive director Claudette Fleming told the Royal Gazette that a number of seniors had contacted that organisation after being confused by the computer printouts issued. "The printouts show a balance symbol on the bottom but it's not a zero balance, it read minus something,'' she said. "Some people are taking that to mean they owe money.'' Ms Hodsell said the office was now working to modify statements to eliminate confusion.