A COUNTY council in receipt of a Government grant worth £7 million a year to help vulnerable people with housing problems has produced a ''poor'' service with ''uncertain prospects for improvement'' for a second year running, according to an Audit Commission inspection.

Northumberland County Council has received the money for its Supporting People programme every year since 2003, but inspectors have given the council a zero-star rating, out of maximum of three stars, for the way the funds have been administrated.

The inspection found the service, designed to help vulnerable people such as those fleeing domestic violence, teenage parents, the elderly and those with learning disabilities to live in their own home or move to secure housing, produced ''weak'' results for the period covering 2008 and 2009.

Inspectors said there had been a ''lack of progress'' by the council in improving its programme, which was also judged to be ''poor'' in its 2007-08 inspection.

The report found ''a number of areas of service remain weak'', with many people in the county complaining they were unable to access the full amount of help available to them.

The Audit Commission inspection also criticised delays in delivering assistance to particularly vulnerable people in Northumberland who needed extra assistance to continue to live in their own home, and the high cost of running the programme.

Yvonne Davies, head of housing, north, at the Audit Commission, said the county council had ''failed to significantly improve services''.

''Northumberland County Council is not delivering support to all the vulnerable people in the county who need help to maintain a tenancy and live independently in their own homes,'' she said.

''The cost of some services remains high when compared to other local authorities. However, partners, including elected members and service users, are now involved and have shown a clear commitment to making improvements and supporting the service.''

The Audit Commission, an independent watchdog that monitors public spending, called on the county council to review the way the money is spent, and produce a plan to improve the programme for people receiving ''insufficient or no support''.

The watchdog stressed that Northumberland County Council had a ''strong'' record in improving services for residents in other areas.

The report also found that people on the Supporting People programme were ''better engaged'' with the programme than in 2007, and the range and choice available to service users had also increased.

A Northumberland County Council spokesman said the report had ''identified a number of strengths and weaknesses in the service''.

''The plan is to build on these strengths and improve on the commission's zero-star rating, which key stakeholders have described as unfairly harsh,'' the spokesman said.

Barry Lydon, who chairs Northumberland County Council's provider board, added that, while the Supporting People programme continued to face ''a number of challenges'', the Audit Commission report had ''skewed'' its findings.

''There was a disproportionate emphasis on the less positive views from a small number of providers which skewed the general good and improving relationship between Supporting People and providers in Northumberland,'' he said.