More staff are to be recruited to improve the speed of benefit payments after a senior officer warned that vulnerable people could be at risk.

Vale of White Horse District Council director of Social and Cultural Services, Tim Sadler, had described the situation as "disturbing".

He said: "I fear that our performance in the delivery of housing and council tax benefits will not improve and may deteriorate further. In time, this would lead to loss of benefit subsidy as well as a reduced service to vulnerable members of the public."

The council approved his recommendations that it spent £35,000 on re-organisation, appointed an extra person in the benefits administration team and filled a vacant clerical post.

The Vale handles housing and council tax benefits, concessionary fares and discretionary mortgage relief. It gets the money back from the Department of Social Security.

The percentage of new claims done on time slumped from 100 per cent in 1999/2000 to 57 per cent in 2000/1 and the average weekly number of claims assessed decreased from 463 to 282, thereby increasing the average weekly backlog of applications from 640 to 973.

Telephone and postal inquiries increased by a quarter.