AN action plan has been drawn up to improve the care given to Bolton’s most vulnerable youngsters — after a critical report found they may “slip through the net” and be put at risk.

Ofsted inspectors told Bolton Council to improve the way it protects children and families following the visit at the beginning of the year, although there were no widespread or serious failures.

The report was published in March, and areas that “required improvement” included: the need to strengthen work with the police in child protection cases; strengthen the assessment and planning of care; improve case recording; and improve support for looked-after children experiencing mental health problems.

Inspectors criticised the fact police, social workers, health services and other agencies did not always meet at the outset to share information when concerns are raised about the” risk of significant harm to children”.

It stated that as a result “inquiries were maybe compromised and children could be at further risk of harm”.

The local authority said it has started to implement an action plan to address Ofsted’s recommendations and secure rapid improvement in the areas identified.

Children’s services bosses also stressed that the Ofsted report also identified a number of strengths in the department, such as good multi-agency working, and good services for adoption and care leavers.

A Bolton Council spokesman said: “In previous inspections, we’ve always been rated ‘good’ by Ofsted and the latest one also identified a number of strengths, such as working well with other agencies to provide help and support to children, providing good services for adoption and care leavers, and delivering strong partnerships with schools resulting in improved progress and attainment amongst looked-after children.

“We hope that the work we’ve done on our action plan will contribute to an improved rating the next time we are inspected and we will continue to work with our partners to ensure the welfare of looked-after children is safeguarded and promoted.”