A DEADLINE of January next year has been set to clear an authority's backlog of benefit claims dating back more than 18 months, has been the subject of an Ombudsman's report.

Derwentside District Council still has to clear a backlog of 2,871 housing benefit claims from more than 6,000.

The build-up of unprocessed claims began early last year when a Government verification scheme was implemented to combat fraud.

The scheme came as a number of staff left, a staff restructuring programme was ongoing and a new computer system was being installed.

The Local Government Ombudsman agreed with a landlord that the backlog had unfairly caused him difficulty last year and the Government auditors also criticised the council over the issue.

But director of regulation and resources Geoffrey Robinson has said the backlog will finally be cleared in the next few months.

He said that in the past few weeks the number of housing benefit claims processed had increased from 247 a week to 610.

A Government help team assigned to all councils has helped clear the backlog. The council has also taken on temporary staff, increased overtime, redirected other staff and prioritised the issue.

Mr Robinson said: "I am sure that a continuation of the improvements already being shown, the pursuit of further initiatives, working with the help team and the commitment being shown by staff will see the achievement of the January deadline for clearing backlogs, and an enhanced and stable service in the future."