Former hurdler Colin Jackson saw Sutton Council's benefits team win the race to be named the best in the country.

The Olympic 110m hurdle silver medalist hosted the black-tie ceremony on Wednesday, September 21, where the team won their gold award.

The recognition from the Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation’s followed last year's most improved team of the year title.

The team deals with more than 16,000 housing and council tax benefit claims a year, and judges recognised their high performance, value for money and partnership-working skills.

Councillor John Drage, Sutton Council’s executive member for finance and efficiency, said: "Our benefits team is on the frontline helping some of the most vulnerable people in Sutton, so it's tremendously reassuring to know residents get the very highest level of service when they deal with us.

"We have made major improvements to the service over the past few years, slashing the amount of time it takes to deal with benefits applications for example, so to get this recognition is extremely rewarding."

The council’s revenues team came third in its category.