District councillors last week agreed to fund two extra posts to help process housing benefit claims in an attempt to deal with the three-month backlog of applications waiting to be processed.

As well as setting aside £24,000 to fund the two posts councillors agreed to give the Citizen's Advice Bureau an extra £10,000 to help deal with the extra workload caused by the backlog.

Hundreds of people in North Wiltshire have been waiting up to three months for their housing benefit claims to be processed and some families are receiving eviction letters as rent arrears build up.

The backlog is due to a staffing crisis at North Wiltshire District Council and despite moves to tackle the problem it could be summer before the backlog is cleared.

Coun Christine Reid said: "It really is pretty depressing. We were making such strides and put a lot of energy into it of course it's much worse for clients trying to get the benefits."

The district council currently has 865 new claims outstanding and the oldest is dated November 26, 2003.

Coun Reid said several staff had moved on and the district council had found it difficult recruiting suitably qualified replacements and the complexity of the application process meant it could not take on agency staff to cover the shortfall.

Single parent Trevor Eason is just one of the many people caught up in the backlog. He said he had submitted an application in December and still had not received an outcome.

"At the moment North Wilts are processing applications where the tenant is facing an eviction notice as a priority, but that means they never catch up on new applications," he said.

Mr Eason, a security officer from Hullavington, has a teenage son and is a school governor at St Nicholas School in Chippenham.

He said he was not falling into rent arrears yet but he sympathised with the people sinking further into the red.

He said: "The situation is tough for everybody. Westlea Housing Association needs revenue on a month by month basis and they have to pay costs like any other business."

A council spokesman said: "We have appointed six new assessors who have all completed four-week technical new entrant training and are now learning the system and dealing with straightforward mail. The two fixed-term contracts are likely to be filled in April and the new team leader is now in post

"We aim to clear the existing new claims in six weeks. By the end of this financial year it is estimated that delays in this area will be reduced to six weeks."

Clive Cook, Housing Services Manager at Westlea Housing Association, said: "We're doing our best to minimise inconvenience and distress to our customers and ensure that every case receives individual treatment."