CHILD protection workers are "struggling to cope" with a huge backlog of reports about abuse and neglect across Oxfordshire. 

Today bosses announced a review of the body set up to co-ordinate safeguarding of children after an internal report revealed it failed to deal with thousands of enquiries quickly enough.

Delays have been partly blamed on the unprecedented number of youngsters requiring protection from abuse and neglect, with more children on protection plans than ever before.

The Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) has also been inundated with thousands of enquiries which do not require children's social workers to step in, with 75 per cent leading to no further action.

Tonight social services bosses stressed no children had been put at risk because of the delays.

But there are concerns only the most serious cases are being dealt with on time and a report due to be published by watchdogs next Tuesday is expected to be critical. 

Melinda Tilley, Oxfordshire County Council cabinet member for children, education and families, said: "At the moment the MASH is struggling to cope with the sheer numbers.

"But we are hoping the review will turn it around. More referrals is a good thing, but that does come with new pressures."

Lucy Butler, deputy director of children's services, added: "We are dealing with the highest number of children on protection plans and looked-after children we have ever seen, but I want to reassure parents that we are still safeguarding the most vulnerable.

"We now need to take a step back and look at improvements. We will still have a MASH, but it will be refocused. 

"There needs to be a better relationship with schools, communities children and families."

She said they would be putting more resources into local teams of social workers.

The hub was set up in 2014 to share information between police, the health service, schools and the county council, which runs social care.

It receives all new enquiries about vulnerable children and is where decisions about what action to take next are made.

From April 2015 to March 2016, it received 20,062 new enquiries. In the last six months of that period, it dealt with the majority of the most urgent 'red' enquiries within the required four hours but just 17 per cent of those rated 'amber' and just eight per cent of those rated 'gree n' were handled on time. 

Enquiries which received no rating were dealt with on time in 61 per cent of cases.

The MASH has been dogged by delays "almost since its inception", a report published today says, with a backlog persisting even after agency workers were drafted in last year.

A key concern of social care bosses is the vast number of enquiries coming into the MASH. 

This has led to greater pressure on staff, who are carrying out about 21 assessments per day – almost double the number before it was established.

Costs have also risen to £1m per year, £250,000 more than what is budgeted.

Mrs Tilley added: "This is about how we get to more of those families who do not quite reach the threshold of social care."

Despite delays identified by the county council at the MASH, it said the body had been successful in other areas.

Ms Butler said cooperation between partners had been "fantastic" and in some cases the information-sharing meant they were swiftly able to discover children living with sex offenders, for example.

New approaches for dealing with young victims of domestic abuse, established after teenager Jayden Parkinson was murdered by her boyfriend, had also been highly successful, she added.

The review was welcomed by Oxford East MP Andrew Smith, but he warned the council it "must make resources available to make sure standards are maintained".

He added: "It is worrying there is such a variance in performance and so the council is right to do this review and the key public concern will be whether child safeguarding is working as effectively as possible."

Maggie Blythe, the independent chairwoman of Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board, said last year the MASH could take over the job of the Kingfisher unit, the joint police and social services team that targets people who sexually exploit children.