A SINGLE mum claims she has been left jobless following a mix up over payment of her job seeker’s allowance.

After being made redundant in April, Lisa Pearson, 38, was “delighted” when she secured a temporary position at an office in Western Avenue, Grays.

She had been actively looking for work for six months and had been receiving job seeker’s allowance (JSA) before she started her new role on November 5.

When she got the job, Ms Pearson, of Steepleview, Laindon, notified Basildon Job Centre and her JSA claim was closed on November 6, the payment was then released on November 7.

However, her last installment of JSA was not paid into her account when she expected on Friday, November 9 and she felt she had to visit the centre to get to the bottom of what had gone wrong.

She claims she explained the situation to her boss who “was not impressed”, but told her to keep him informed.

However, she could not do that until the afternoon as she had struggled to get in touch with her personal worker at the job centre, by which time, Pertemps recruitment agency, in Basildon, called her to say she did not need to turn up on Monday, November 12 as time off during the first week “did not show commitment”.

Ms Pearson, who had previously never been out of work since she graduated, said: “The irony is laughable.

“I can’t blame the manager for it as it was only my fifth day there, but the worst thing was it was out of my hands.

“I’m really angry, but I’ll just have to get straight back in the saddle and look for something else. It won’t be easy now though, especially coming up to Christmas.”

A Department for Work and Pensions spokeswoman, said: “"We have apologised to Ms Pearson for the slight delay in her payment, and will continue to work with her to help her move into a suitable job.”