BENEFIT bosses who dragged their feet when handing out help to Burnley householders have been told by a top government minister to speed up the response to their problems.

Scathing criticism of the council's housing benefit distribution and anti-fraud systems followed a study by the Benefits Fraud Inspectorate.

Burnley Council was told to produce an action plan to deal with the problems identified by the inspection team and councillors aimed to agree a plan on November 16.

But the resources committee has now been told the time-table is not good enough for Secretary of State Alistair Darling, who has demanded the response by November 9.

In its recently-issued report following last year's study, the Social Security team found the council provided 'a poor service' to householders, particularly in the time taken to process benefit claims -- up to five months in many cases.

Weaknesses were revealed in the way the council handled verification of claims and inspectors found the work of the section set-up to counter fraud was not managed effectively.

Their report said there was a need for the council to anticipate fraud and prosecute offenders where appropriate.

But council chiefs said the report was out of date and the council had already taken firm measures to address most of the issues raised. However, Independent Group leader Harry Brooks, told the committee the council's 'spin' was simply a public relations exercise to hide the shortcomings highlighted in an 'horrendous' report from inspectors.

"We need to acknowledge more fully some of the things which went so very wrong in the past," he said.

But committee chairman Peter Kenyon told him the council had acted and would continue to do so. "I do take seriously what the BFI had to say and it will be acted upon."