A council is exceeding expectations and processing benefits much quicker than last year, a report has revealed.

The average number of days taken to process new claims for benefit has dropped from 24 days to 15.75 days, well below the 20 day target.

The average number of days taken to process benefit changes dropped from nine days to 5.9 days, well within the 10 day target.

Fenland District Council’s corporate plan said: “Fenland’s new claims and changes in circumstance continues to hold up very well.

“The improvement is illustrated by contrasting with the same point last year.”