ADDITIONAL staff have been drafted in to improve the backlog of housing benefit inquiries at Rossendale which has left some people in danger of eviction.

Three agency staff began work last week as part of a far-reaching plan to stop the backlog growing further and to reduce outstanding claims.

They will carry the burden while Rossendale Council recruits and trains its own staff with a view to almost eliminating the backlog and keeping on top of future claims.

Councillors revealed this week that the claims backlog for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit was still growing by 400 claims/inquiries per week.

The section receives 800 items of mail in a week and has a backlog of 4,097 items of unopened mail still to be processed.

They previously had six full-time staff and a part-time employee, which according to James Gravenor, the council's interim chief executive, was not sufficient to deal with the inquiries.

In a year the section dealt with more than 50,000 items of mail and there were 14,500 applications a year.

Some tenants have been threatened with eviction because of the council's tardiness in paying benefits.

Councillor Graham Pearson, council leader, said: "Disorganisation in our benefits section were singled out in the summer's Audit Commission report as a top priority for us to sort out. We have a three-strong team of officers coming in from Tameside Council -- reputed to be one of the best in the country - to advise us on the best way to reorganise and train our staff.

"We have also appointed our own training officer to get our staff up to speed while the agency staff reduce the backlog.

"Some tenants have been threatened with eviction because the council had not got its act together. The public deserves better."

James Gravenor, Rossendale Council's Acting Chief Executive, was recently ordered to court to explain why a claim had been unpaid, sparking possible eviction for the claimant. He solved the problem before the court date.

Councillor Pearson said: "That was firefighting because of benefits section chaos caused by staff shortages and inadequately trained staff.

"Our cost-cutting programme was painful, but we now have the money to give the needy the level of service they deserve."