Aberdeenshire Council's benefits handling criticised
Aberdeenshire Council's handling of housing and council tax benefit claims has been criticised in a report.
The Accounts Commission said the local authority had not fully addressed concerns raised during previous audit work.
The council said it took the report "very seriously" and improvements had to be made, but stressed "positive progress" had already been seen.
The commission has asked for a follow-up report in a year.
The commission said the council had been consistently slower than the national average in processing new claims.