COUNCIL bosses have drawn up a rescue plan to salvage a beleaguered benefits and council tax service.

Rossendale Council wants to team up with another authority in a bid to improve these two key services.

A feasibility study has been carried out into the possibility of a potential partnership with Tameside Council, Manchester, which scored highly in the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA).

Executive members of the council will be asked to approve a project board made-up of town hall staff, union representatives and councillors, at the first Executive meeting tomorrow night.

It has been recommended that the board consist of eight staff, two union representatives and two councillors.

Lynn Hurrell, director of housing management services, said: "At one point we had no backlog at all and now it is down to a minimum despite it being the end of the financial year.

"Last year people waited 27 days or less for their housing assessment.

"It went down from 88.5 days to 65.5 days, although this means we are still in the bottom 25 per cent of all councils we are improving."

The council will only reach the 'excellent' category when benefits assessments are completed within 30 days.

Mrs Hurrell added: "The aim is to look at different ways of delivering the service more effectively and our preferred option would be to look at a public partnership with another authority providing a full managed service."

It is hoped the move will help improve council tax collection and distribution of benefits after the CPA report identified a need for improvement in these areas.

In a report to the executive to be held on Thursday officers said: "There have been improvements in both housing benefits and council tax services.

"However, Best Value Performance Indicators show Rossendale's performance still in the worst 25 per cent of the district councils."