A YOUNG woman has been denied employment and support allowance while training at the Fortune Centre of Riding Therapy in the New Forest – until the Daily Echo became involved.

Amber Cayley, 19, suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome and other learning disabilities.

She is on a three-year course designed to provide her with job skills at the riding college at Avon Tyrrell near Bransgore.

Her board and lodgings are paid for, but the only cash she has had to pay for essentials, such as toiletries, clothes and the train fare back home to visit parents Martin and Hilary and sister Bethan in Kent, is disability living allowance – and that is just £75.80 a month.

“All the time she is there she is not getting the benefit to which she is entitled,” said Mr Cayley.

“They are saying we’ve got to go through this appeal process, which could take months, or they say we can reapply for it.

“When she wants to travel back on the train to see us she hasn’t got any money. The centre does help her out and we help as much as we can.”

There were no issues during her first year at Avon Tyrrell. The problem, Mr Cayley said, stems from when she was asked to attend a medical by Jobcentre Plus at Chatham on March 2 this year.

“She didn’t attend, which was partly our fault because letters were coming here and to her at the Fortune Centre,” said her father. “She was being paid employment and support allowance but because the appointment was missed they just stopped paying her. They didn’t even inform us.”

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: “Jobcentre Plus is talking with the customer to ensure she receives the benefits she’s entitled to while the appeal is underway.”

Mr Cayley said that two days after the Echo became involved he received a telephone call from Jobcentre Plus saying that his daughter would receive funding while the appeal went ahead.

“I’m reasonably happy because things are moving on,” he said.