Action to deal with a serious backlog in BrentÍs housing benefit system has been demanded by the local government watchdog.

One woman who faced the threat of eviction because of the chaos in the system, has been awarded £450 compensation after Brent Council was found guilty of maladministration causing injustice.

Local Government Ombudsman, Edward Osmotherly, said the crisis, which is blamed on the councilÍs contractor EDS, seems to be receding but has demanded further information on how a massive backlog of complaints has been reduced.

ñThe council should report to me in three months from now on its progress in dealing with the backlog so that I can be satisfied that proper action has been taken on the findings of this investigation,î said Mr Osmotherly.

ñTo their credit, the council and EDS have accepted the need to increase the number of staff to deal with the backlog of complaints, and they have made progress in reducing it.î

Problems started in June last year when EDS replaced its obsolete computer system.

The month-long shut-down inevitably led to delays of almost 14,000 items of correspondence which the company had hoped to have cleared by the end of August. By September however, the backlog had been reduced to just under 2,000 but the company stopped late evening work and the backlog shot back up to more than 10,000 the following month.

The crisis prompted the council to demand immediate action and the backlog had reduced to just 233 in April.

For one woman the problems with the benefit system led to more than nine months of anguish as repeated delays and mistakes meant she was threatened with the repossession of her home.

Mr Osmotherly has now recommended the council pay the woman £450 compensation.