RENT arrears owed by council tenants in Burnley at the end of the financial year were about 40 per cent up on a year ago.

But the figure of £530,575 may not be an accurate position, councillors were told.

Head of housing management Margaret Duthie said the substantial increase reflected the impact of the introduction of the new benefits system in July which had caused unprecedented problems.

Even with a large proportion of the backlog claims having been processed by the benefits service there was still a lack of confidence in the accuracy of the figures.

Officers had been meeting to agree a formula designed to arrive at a true arrears position.

Coun Tony Harrison said it was a problem which needed tackling and which had caused lots of complaints.

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