FORMER tenants of demolished flats are to share a £10,000 payout after a ruling that Bolton Council acted unjustly.

Local Government Ombudsman Patricia Thomas decided that Bolton Council was guilty of "maladministration" because it did not inform tenants at Skagen Court that they would be entitled to more than twice as much compensation if they delayed moving out.

She said the council was guilty of "maladministration causing injustice" and should pay £1,800 to each tenant who might have stayed at the flats, near Bolton town centre, beyond September 1 last year.

From that date, the Government increased the value of "home loss payments" to council tenants who are forced out of their homes - through no fault of their own - from £1,500 to £3,100.

A senior officer told a hearing that the council's legal department chose not to tell staff about the change.

He said they feared tenants might delay moves against their best interests and that the Government might have had a change of heart over the increases.

The council has accepted that tenants lost the opportunity to make an informed decision.

In her report, Mrs Thomas said: "It indicates a disturbingly patronising attitude by officers in the legal services department towards members of the public.

"It is not for the council to withhold information on such spurious grounds as these. The tenants were perfectly capable of making judgements about when they should move."

She took up the case after a tenant complained that he would have delayed his move if he known of the change to payments.

She concluded that he should receive the difference of £1,600 plus an extra £200 to compensate him for his time and trouble in making the complaint.

The flats were demolished earlier this year when just half of the 239 unit block were occupied. The upper floors were uninhabitable due to a leaking roof.

About half a dozen tenants are thought to have been affected by the concil's decision on payments.