NewsColony

Coronavirus: The newly jobless struggle to claim benefits NewsColony Image caption Job centres have now been closed to everyone but the most vulnerable claimants Significant problems are being reported after an “incredible” number of benefit claims in recent days due to the economic fall-out of the coronavirus. At one point on Tuesday more than 100,000 people were trying to verify online applications and others spent hours trying to phone welfare staff. Many gave up after long phone queues and then being rejected by the system. The Department for Work and Pensions said it was redeploying existing staff and hiring others to cope with demand. Research by the BBC suggests that pressure on the benefits system started to build in the middle of last week, shortly after the government introduced the first set of restrictions and then surged markedly on Tuesday after the prime minister ordered most businesses to close on Monday night. New claimants, many of them self-employed and fa...