TENANTS are being threatened with eviction because of a backlog in dealing with housing benefit claims built up since the service was taken over by a private company.

Landlords today claimed some people had already been kicked out of their homes after Capita -- the firm employed by Blackburn with Darwen Council to look after much of its administrative work -- got up to three months behind with the service.

Opposition councillors in Blackburn with Darwen claimed their were dozens of cases they knew of people being threatened with eviction because of the hold up.

But council bosses, who said they had received no reports of people losing their homes, said they were happy with the way Capita was operating and were confident things would improve.

Council bosses said the backlog now only stretched back a month but admitted they knew of people being sent warning letters by landlords.

Council bosses have denied the problem could become as bad as Lambeth, the council which removed Capita from dealing with housing benefits after a backlog in payments.

The firm, which last week unveiled plans for a £5million office block in Blackburn, today claimed it was on top of the problem.

The council has also provided information to court staff to help anyone who does face eviction.

Under current laws, all new or altered claims have to be authorised by the local authority, even if the handling of them is sub-contracted out to a private firm.

This, say both Blackburn with Darwen Council and London-based Capita, has led to a backlog since the service was transferred six months ago.

Today, Twin Valley Homes, which owns the borough's former council houses, pledged not to evict any tenants suffering through the hold-ups.

But John Sharpe, chairman of the East Lancashire landlord's association, said: " Private landlords just can't afford to do that. I know of recent cases where money has been delayed for up to three months in this borough

"For landlords, that is like going without a wage for three months."

Conservative Coun Edward Harrison said: "I have been contacted by several people who have received letters informing them they are going to be evicted by their landlords."

Coun Charles Mills, a Liberal Democrat councillor for Shadsworth, said: "Several people are facing court at the end of the month because their housing benefit has not arrived.

"Even a month's delay is too much because that is all it takes for some landlords to cause problems."

A spokesman for Blackburn's Citizen's Advice Bureau said "People have been contacting us, concerned about a situation they have found themselves in through no fault of their own."

Around 25,000 cases of housing benefit are currently on the council's books, with 3,500 new or altered claims each month.

Council leader Coun Bill Taylor said: "The partnership with Capita is already delivering new jobs and service improvements. Admittedly during the initial transitional period because of the need to retrain, restructure and recruit, there has been a delay in processing.

"We are confident in the foreseeable future that this will improve considerably."

On behalf of Phil Watson, Chief Executive at the Council, executive director Harry Catherall said: "The outlook for the coming year is very positive, considerable investment is planned which will deliver a substantial improvement in benefit services, building on the council's good track record."

Coun Maureen Bateson, executive member for welfare rights and consumer affairs, said: "Before the service was handed over, one person would deal with a claim from the beginning to the end.

"Because we have to validate all claims, Capita operate a more generic operation where one person processes it, one person checks it and then it comes to us to be validated.

"More staff are being recruited and it is my understanding that the oldest claim at present dates back only to December and we are catching up.

"The situation is nothing like Lambeth. Anyone who is facing eviction or having problems should contact us and we will help them."

George Campling, council director of rights, advice and entitlements, said: "When we handed the service over, it was up to speed.

"The benefits process has led to more staff working on benefits and we are confident we can establish a turn-around time which is even quicker than before.

"Now that we authorise all claims, we will have fewer mistakes.

"We have had no eviction cases reported. We apologise to anyone who has experienced any delay or inconvenience and we are working hard to bring the work right up to date."

He declined to say how many claims were being delayed.