COUNCIL workers are being faced with the thankless task of sifting through a seven-week backlog of benefit claims after computers went into meltdown.

News Shopper has learnt a major technical failure at Greenwich Council's benefits department on August 19 led to chaos as council workers were forced to register new claimants using a paper-based system.

It has affected housing and council tax benefits in particular and left 29 homeworkers unable to work.

The council says it hopes to have the document management system up and running by the end of the week - nearly two months since the computers crashed.

But opposition councillors are calling on the authority to come clean about how many claims are in the backlog so residents have an idea when their applications will be dealt with.

Councillor Alex Wilson from Greenwich's Conservative Party says he has been trying to look into the problem.

But he has been unable to get the council to give him a figure on how many people the computer glitch has affected.

He said: "Because of the council's inability to manage and, over the years, invest in the IT network we have now seen it all come crashing down around our ears.

"Residents who are making a new benefit claim are being left out on a limb.

"I think we need to know exactly how many people this has affected so we know where we stand in terms of getting things back on track. I'd imagine hundreds of people will have been put out by this."

One resident, of Charlton Road, who asked not to be named, said she had to wait nine weeks to get a £1,300 housing benefit claim agreed.

She was only given money after she showed a letter to the council from her landlord saying he would evict her for failing to make rent payments.

She said: "I called the council so many times but had to go into their offices with documents because there computers were broken."

In December last year, the council signed an eight-year contract with computer specialists IBM which will see it pay £2.7m every year as part of a wholesale overhaul of its IT system.

But Tory leader Councillor Spencer Drury says the problems are indicative of years of under-investment.

He said: "IT systems are the backbone of any organisation these days.

"We're already in a state of chaos. How on earth will the council manage to fulfil its modernisation pledges if the IT system isn't even coping?"

Council's workers' union Unison has also heard from staff enduring computer hell.

Branch secretary Onay Kasab said: "I spoke to one social services worker who spent three days writing a report which was about the safety of children in care which was to be used in a court case.

"One day, the document just disappeared from his computer. Three days of work wasted."

A spokesman from Greenwich Council confirmed the data management system failed on August 19.

She said: "The benefits department has been unable to access its document management system. New claimants have been processed using a paper-based system.

"Staff are working additional hours to update the system. A new server is now in place and the document management system should be fully operational by the end of the week."

The council said it was unable to specify number of claimants affected.