FORMER Blackburn with Darwen Council staff who transferred to private company Capita last year could be used to help sort out a backlog at Chorley Council.

The authority is considering bringing in Capita on a short-term basis to help clear the pile-up of council tax collection and benefits applications.

If successful, the firm, which signed a 15-year deal with Blackburn with Darwen Council to provide dozens of administrative services and took control of around 500 staff, is expected to use employees from Blackburn.

The firm has a centre at Glenfield Park which is used to help councils on a short term basis.

But the move has angered town hall union UNISON which says it will fight the plans.

The council says it is in a catch-22 situation.

Staff shortages and backlogs have been blamed for the dip in performance of the revenue and benefit services. But because staff are working overtime to clear the backlog, they are suffering stress which has aggravated the problem. Agency staff have even been hired to try to alleviate the situation. Tim Rignall, Chorley Borough Council's head of corporate and policy services, said: "During the Best Value review we have a duty to look at whether we can better obtain that service from somewhere else. Capita are one of the providers we are looking at, but it is still up in the air at the moment." But Wayne Andrews, Chorley branch secretary for UNISON, said: "We believe that an in-house, not-for-profit organisation is going to provide you with best value.

"Capita may provide a cheaper service for the short-term but those costs could start creeping up. Capita are providing the service for profit at the end of the day."

Mr Rignall said that in the future Capita could be used in a supporting capacity when backlogs occur. "If, for instance, a number of staff left the council, Capita may be able to address that short-term drop by lending or hiring people."

But using private companies, such as Capita, has been the subject of some controversy in the past.

The draft report states that there have been some cases where the private sector has failed to improve services, and in some cases, failed to provide the service at all.