Liverpool hauled over coals for benefit delays

LIVERPOOL City Council has been ordered to pay compensation after delays by its legal department in deciding whether a local resident qualified for housing benefit.

It took three months for the lawyers to give the go-ahead for cash to be paid.

The file was sent on 9 March 1993 to the legal department which gave provisional approval on 1 April.

But it took until 10 June before a final written instruction was sent to the housing section authorising payment of housing benefit.

The resident claimed that he had been "embarrassed and humiliated" by having to borrow money.

York-based ombudsman Pat Thomas said the unreasonable delay in determining the claim was maladministration and she ordered the council to pay u200 in compensation.