CARE plans for vulnerable children in the borough must get better despite ongoing improvements in the authority, a watchdog has told council bosses.

Ofsted said previous concerns over "assessments and plans" within the borough’s children services "have not been fully resolved".

Inspectors carried out a "focused" visit in March, following on from the town hall’s last full inspection in 2017, when it was rated as "Good".

The recent visit – looking at arrangements for children in need of help and protection – found "needs and risks are identified appropriately" and there was no evidence of youngsters  being left at immediate or unassessed risk of significant harm.

However, "the quality of assessments is still too variable", an inspection report said.

The town hall "continues to be on a journey of continuous improvement", according to director James Winterbottom.

He said: “This feedback will help ensure we continue to improve towards our goal: to give every child and young person the best start in life.”

Inspectors praised the council’s senior leadership team for having a "good understanding" of issues at hand and social workers for talking "knowledgeably about the children and families they are working with".

And they recognised that the local authority "is in the process of creating an environment in which social work can flourish" with directors taking ‘decisive action’ to make quality improvements.

But the report reads: “Plans are still not easy to understand or use and, as a result, core groups and child in need (CIN) review meetings are not as effective as they should be in monitoring and evaluating progress.”

The report adds: “Social workers are still not always getting the right level of critical challenge and case direction from supervision that they need and deserve.”

It highlights that council bosses launched a comprehensive scoping exercise late last year to identify areas to improve, resulting in the formation of new panels to provide oversight.

Mr Winterbottom, director for children’s services, said: “At its last Ofsted inspection in 2017, Wigan’s children’s services were one of only four in the North West to receive a ‘good’ rating with its adoption services individually assessed as ‘outstanding’.

“At the time Ofsted inspectors praised a strong culture of continuous improvement.   

“Two years on and we continue along that journey of continuous improvement.

“The focused visit from Ofsted confirmed that our own self-assessment of strengths and areas we want to continue to improve is accurate and that we are creating the conditions for social work to flourish in our borough.”