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Women forced to wait an extra six years for their state pensions are battling to receive them amid chaos at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Delays and slip-ups mean pensioners finally entitled to the benefit have been left without any income for weeks.
And those that try to get answers on the phone have been made to wait for hours on hold.
Around 3.8million women born in the 1950s lost out on up to £50,000 after their state pension age was increased from 60 to 66.
But experts fear thousands of men and women now old enough to collect their state pensions could continue to be affected due to staff shortages and a processing logjam at the DWP.
Women forced to wait an extra six years for pensions are battling to get them. Mandy Hardman (above) was forced to keep working when her retirement age was pushed up from 60 to 66
It is understood that some pensioners have been made to wait up to three months for their first payment to arrive – with some forced to keep on working.
Former pensions minister Steve Webb, a partner at consultants LCP, said: 'We are hearing worrying reports of people not getting their state pension for many weeks after the due date.
'Whilst some people will have other resources to tide them over, for others this could create real financial hardship.
'The DWP needs to be open and explain the scale of the problem and what it is doing to tackle it as a matter of urgency.'
Theresa Horner, who turned 66 in July but is still waiting for her weekly £176.88, said: 'This is not pocket money. I am a woman of a certain age and they are adding huge insult to huge injury.
'They haven't even bothered to tell us that our pensions are
