Ref. 28748-91KAY Parncutt was stunned when she got a letter from the Department of Work and Pensions telling her she was losing her widow's allowance, just days before the first anniversary of her husband's death.

Now she is launching a one-woman drive to make other people aware of what she regards as an underhand and penny-pinching rule.

Her husband Richard was well-known in Wootton Bassett before his death from a heart attack at the end of October 2002, aged 58.

Mrs Parncutt, 56, of Briars Close, Wootton Bassett, said he worked hard all his life and believed he would leave her well provided for.

But what neither of them realised was that new pension rules introduced a year before he died meant that she would only receive payments from the state for the first 52 weeks after his death. This followed Richard's RAF pension being halved when it passed to her.

She was completely unprepared when the letter came in October informing her the pension had run out.

"When you lose someone for that first year you are just living in a cloud. You get by day by day. You don't think about tomorrow and you certainly don't think a year ahead. This came as a bombshell at a very emotional time," she said.

Mr Parncutt served in the RAF as a chief technician with Lyneham as his last posting before he retired from the military at 40. He and his wife were married for 27 years and have two sons.

He then lectured at Swindon College, worked as a lab technician at Bradon Forest School and worked at Anchor Foods and Del Monte. He was also known locally as a writer.

"If my husband knew what a letdown the system was, he would be ashamed. He used to say I would be well looked after if he died. He never realised his RAF pension would be halved and neither of us knew the pension rules had changed. We can't have been the only ones."

Now is planning to speak to her MP, James Gray, about the situation.

The loss of the £77.45 a week benefit left an unexpected hole in her finances.

The widow's pension, which would have been paid to Mrs Parncutt until retirement age, was replaced in April 2001 by a bereavement allowance which, for the first time, was payable to men, but it only lasts for a year.

Now she will have to wait until she can claim the state pension at 60, although she is still entitled to half of her husband's occupational RAF pension.

She is a teaching assistant at Longleaze Primary School in Wootton Bassett.

Jo Osorio, director of Age Concern Swindon, said the benefits system was complex and urged people to get advice as early as possible.

He said: "It is, frankly, extremely complicated and obviously the advice we would give anybody is to ask for help and look closely at the paperwork."

Information was available from Age Concern, the Citizens' Advice Bureau and the Department for Work and Pensions.

Tina Clarke