A LEUKAEMIA sufferer who is too sick to hold her five-month-old baby wept today after claiming Benefits Agency staff told her that she must collect her invalidity allowance herself.

Mum-of-two Tracey Cullen, who has just returned home from the Christie Hospital, Manchester, said she still had no idea how much money she was entitled to more than five months after she applied for benefit.

She said: "I don't know where my next penny is coming from. I've been passed from pillar to post. It's making me sick. I can't deal with all this when I've got two children to look after."

Tracey, 28, of Ash Street, Oswaldtwistle, became ill in autumn while working at Hallmark Cards, Accrington, but put it down to pregnancy problems.

Doctors at Blackburn Royal Infirmary decided to induce her baby daughter, Morgan, on Boxing Day a month before she was due after suspecting Tracey had a blood condition.

Tracey was sent for bone marrow tests at the Christie Hospital, Manchester, where a doctor told her she had leukaemia which was affecting her brain.

She said: "Morgan has grown up in Christie's. I was too ill to feed her myself, I can't even hold her."

Tracey was given intensive chemotherapy and other treatments before being allowed home. She cannot walk, can hardly eat and is continually sick.

Her partner, Kevin Taylor, who gave up his job as a builder to care for Tracey, Morgan, and six year old Josh, drives her to the Manchester hospital every other day for blood transfusions and other treatment.

He said: "I've been to the benefits office more than 20 times trying to sort it all out, but they are just plain ignorant. They cannot grasp why Tracey was working, then on maternity leave, then sick. They say they've never dealt with a case like it. " We've borrowed more than £1,000 from family while we've been trying to sort it out. The Benefits Agency has given us crisis loans but they all have to be paid back."

Kevin and Tracey decided to contact the Lancashire Evening Telegraph when Tracey was asked to send her documents back to the Benefits Agency for alteration then received no money at all for three weeks. Kevin phoned Melbourne House, Accrington, and offered to come in and sort it out. After waiting an hour beyond the appointment time, he was told Tracey had to come and sign for the giro herself.

He said: "I couldn't leave Tracey any longer and I had to go home. Now we don't know what's going to happen. We are just hoping they will send it to us."

The family claims this is the latest in a catalogue of errors that include:

Receiving a letter from the Benefits Agency fraud squad accusing the family of illegally claiming benefits. They were later sent a letter of apology.

Telling Tracey to apply for Jobseeker's Allowance because she was available for work.

Telling Kevin he needed to fill in the same set of forms twice because of "a procedural change".

Sending a letter saying Tracey's benefit will change seven times in the next 10 months, varying by more than 100 per cent.

A Benefits Agency spokeswoman, a press office assistant, said: "We are unable to comment on individual cases. If a customer has a complaint they should contact their customer services manager."

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph telephoned Benefits Agency staff on seven occasions and spoke to four different people over 36 hours.

When questioned if it was possible to make an exception for someone who was bedbound and seriously ill, the Benefits Agency repeatedly answered that she must contact a customer services manager.

Asked about the lack of a detailed response from the Benefits Agency, a spokeswoman for the Department of Social Security said: "You will have to go through the Benefits Agency, but they are unlikely to discuss individual cases."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.