MORE people from across York have complained about delays by City of York Council in processing their housing benefit claims.

A couple of residents have claimed that while they were still waiting to receive their benefits, a different department from the same authority was threatening them with eviction for failing to pay their rent.

Several readers have contacted the Evening Press since we reported yesterday how cabbie Alan Davis had received an apology because he was still waiting for housing benefit, five months after applying for help.

David Bryant said he too had suffered lengthy delays last year, when council staff had said that a new computer system had been installed, and he had been asked to "bear with us".

He said: "When I asked how I was expected to pay my rent while bearing with them, and how long I was expected to bear with them, they only gave a non-committal reply."

A woman said she put in a claim for housing benefit after moving home last October and, while still waiting to receive it, was served with eviction papers by an estate manager in March.

After taking the eviction papers to the council offices, the claim was sorted out in a fortnight. "But it shouldn't take for a tenant to be served with eviction papers for them to sort the claim out."

Julie McMurray, the council's head of revenues and benefits, said today: "We have a small number of claims still outstanding dating from before May and have been working hard to clear these. In many cases, the delays are compounded by customers not sending in the correct information, which we then have to write and request.

"In cases where a customer is a council tenant and action is being taken to pursue rent arrears, the housing and benefits team always liaise prior to any case going to court to ensure that a customer's benefit claim/entitlement to benefit has been sorted."

Updated: 10:58 Thursday, August 26, 2004