Bristol City Council has been told its benefits service is ‘performing poorly'. The Audit Commission gave the council's service a zero-star rating, and said it had ‘uncertain prospects for improvement'. The auditors said this was because people were waiting too long for their claims to be processed. Philip Suter, a senior manager at the commission, said: ‘Bristol City Council has much to do to improve the benefits service for local people. It recognises this, and has begun to tackle the problems.'