THERE'S good new for many benefits claimants in York, who are now getting help in half the time.

Since May 2004, City of York Council has cut the average wait for claimants from 90 to 44 days - despite an 8.3 per cent increase in claims.

The service was overhauled after a national Benefits Fraud Inspectorate (BFI) review of the department last year revealed the time it took to process new claims put the council in the bottom quarter of authorities nationally.

Inspectors praised the fraud detection and prosecution service, but found the housing and council tax benefits service to be poor.

A 200-point action plan was formed to meet the BFI recommendations, and more than 80 points have now been completed.

Over the last year, claims have risen from 17,750 a year to 19,229 - mainly due to council-organised benefit take-up campaigns, including Pensioners' Pride.

On May 1, 2004, 1,997 claims were in the office for processing, 1,220 of which were over four weeks old. Payments were averaging 90 days.

A year later, the number had fallen to 657, of which only 303 were more than four weeks old and payments were averaging 44 days.

Now, the council aims to reach its target of 36 days for payments, which would put the authority in the top 25 per cent in the country.

The council claims changing to a new computer system in August 2003 was one of the main problems, which caused a five-week shutdown.

James Drury, the council's head of public services, said: "The last couple of years, following implementation of the new computer, have been very difficult for the people working in benefits and for all our customers.

"I would like to thank our customers for the patience and understanding they

have shown and also thank staff in the benefits team who have worked very hard and are now offering a vastly improved service.

"However, there are still further improvements that we need to make and these will be happening over the coming months, but I am pleased to be able to say that we are now dealing with benefit claims much more quickly, despite an increase in the number of people who are claiming benefit."

Updated: 09:30 Monday, May 30, 2005