A NORTH-EAST company has won contracts to process housing benefit claims from all over the country.

HBS, in Middlesbrough, is in talks with more than 30 councils in the South because its employees can do the work far faster than their southern counterparts in the local government sector.

The company started taking work off local authorities two months ago but has already won four contracts and taken on ten extra staff to handle the workload.

"This is something we do extremely well in Middlesbrough and we have the ability to turn things around very quickly," said HBS spokesman Alan Gardner.

"There are a lot of good people working here and we have recently expanded to increase capacity so we can take on more work from southern councils."

"It will bring new jobs to the area and will put Middlesbrough on the map for innovation in the public sector.

"What we are doing caused quite a stir in the small pond of local government."

The company, based at Rede House in Corporation Road, has a staff turnover of three per cent, compared with 40 per cent in local authorities in the south of England.