People claiming benefits in Watford are still being hit by delays while the borough council struggles to clear a backlog of cases since the summer.

Benefit bosses at Watford Borough Council had promised to get on top of the workload by December, however as the deadline approaches they have instead asked for more time and extra staff deal with the overspill by January.

News that the backlog had not been dealt with emerged last night as councillors grilled the Liberal Democrat portfolio holder for finance, Andy Wylie, over the situation.

At the meeting of the council’s overview and scrutiny committee, Councillor Wylie said he had been given an update on the backlog two weeks ago and describe progress as “treading water”.

Yet he said some progress had been made in whittling down the number of pending claims, which was now at around 350, whereas it had been over 400 in the summer. The majority of claimants caught up in the delay were said to be waiting between six and eight weeks to have their case processed.

As a result department bosses had been given an extra £25,000 to spend on hiring agency staff to help with the workload.

Councillor Wylie added part of the reason for the failure to get on top of the outstanding caseload was an approximate 25% increase in people claiming benefit due to the country’s struggling economy.

The Lib Dem asked the scrutiny committee to postpone any investigation into what had gone wrong in the department until January, so staff would not be distracted providing evidence and figures when then they were working on the backlog.

He said: “I would just urge not trying to start anything until January.”

The exchange between Councillor Wylie and the committee became heated after a suggestion was made that started giving the scrutiny committee regular briefings while the backlog remained.

Councillor Wylie said it would not be practical or an appropriate role for the committee.

Steve Rackett, the Green Party vice chairman of the committee, said: “If you had been doing your job we would not have this problem.”

Councillor Wylie responded: “Telling someone they are not doing their job when you don’t know the facts is a pretty bad accusation.”

Other councillors on the committee expressed scepticism that the benefits department would be able to hit the new deadline of January.

Liberal Democrat Chris Leslie said January could see another surge of people signing on as short-term Christmas job contracts ended.

Councillor Wylie said he would report back about how the efforts to clear the delayed claims were going.

He said that the department had been badly affected by the drawn-out saga over the backlog, with a lot of staff time being taken up dealing with queries and complaints from people whose claims were delayed.

Councillor Wylie added: “The sickness and stress related days off for that section are quite substantial since April.

“That’s another reason to sort that department.”