A MOTHER forced to plead for money because of a breakdown in a benefit system was given her outstanding payments yesterday.

Julie Ornsby, from Bishop Auckland, County Durham, and another mother who appealed to the town's MP Derek Foster for help, collected Giros covering unpaid child tax credit payments from the Inland Revenue office yesterday afternoon.

They received their payments after Mr Foster took their cases to Chancellor Gordon Brown's deputy, Dawn Primarolo, the Paymaster General to the Treasury.

Ms Ornsby, who has five children, aged between 11 and four, was relieved to receive the cash. She said: "There are a lot of happy faces at home. I just hope that the other families who were in the same position get their money."

Twenty four hours earlier, she had been in tears as she pleaded with staff at the Inland Revenue office to find a solution to her problem, which arose because there was no record of a declaration form she sent in almost three weeks ago.

A computer upgrade means that staff were not able to input information and a form that should have been available was not.

Ms Ornsby, 29, who lives in Proudfoot Drive, on the Woodhouse Close Estate, was refused an emergency payment from the Department for Work and Pensions.

She said: "I felt humiliated having to ask. It is dreadful that his should happen in this day and age."