The government is slow to help during the recession

I met a recent graduate over the weekend who has reluctantly "signed-on" with Jobcentre Plus after trying without success to get work. They have so far not received a single penny in help from the government due to "a backlog". Surely the government could have seen this coming and made arrangements to speed up payments to those in need of help- often only for a short period of time- during the recession. This Labour government failed to prepare our economy for the downturn and subsequent recession, and now they are failing to help those in most need.