Council officials are holding a crisis meeting with a software supplier after a string of complaints about housing benefit letters.

The Argus revealed complaints from people on housing benefit who said they were receiving letters giving wrong or contradictory information.

Liberal Democrat councillors Paul Elgood, Dawn Davidson and David Watkins have now called for a full investigation into what went wrong.

Brighton and Hove Council has told First Software it is dissatisfied with the problems.

The meeting will take place on September 25.

A council report says housing benefit letters are sent out using new software telling people how their benefit has been assessed and any changes to it.

It says: "The heart of the problem is that the system produces a separate letter for every change to a customer's benefit.

"If customers have a number of changes to their income in a short period, this will result in a shoal of letters.

"Each of these is technically and legally correct but the overall effect is confusing.

"The council has to send the letters out as it is under a legal obligation to notify customers of changes to their benefit."

Officials are checking hundreds of letters produced every day to try to ensure the information in them is correct.

They have managed to make changes so that letters are clearer and there are fewer of them.

The report says: "The authority has now gone as far as it can without intervention from the software supplier."

First Software said it will try to resolve the problem as soon as possible.

Coun Elgood said: "We are requesting a scrutiny review into problems encountered by the installation of the new housing benefits computer system.

"This follows complaints by residents after conflicting and incorrect benefit information was issued to the public."