WYRE Forest District Council has a good record when it comes to recovering the benefits which have been overpaid to residents, councillors have been told.

Members at a meeting of the council's executive heard the council was owed £328,441 in housing benefit and council tax benefit which it had inadvertently paid to people who should not have received it.

Councillor Liz Davies said this represented two per cent of the total benefit paid in the year 2003/04 of £15.9 million.

"This compares very well with the national average and shows our recovery rate is very, very good," she said.

Mrs Davies added that although there was no public, official national statistic, the national average was "thought to be" between 3.5 and 4.5 per cent.

She added the figures had to be taken against a background of debt recovery, which was sometimes from people on benefits.

She said: "The maximum we can recover is £8 a week through the benefits system. I believe that is right and proper because we are talking about people who just don't have any available spare cash. However, if you have a debt of £100 it takes a long time to work that debt off."

She said the council now had targets to hit on benefit overpayment debt recovery in line with national Government policy.

She explained: "These figures show we are going to meet those targets. We will not get 100 per cent but we will get very, very near to it."