THE number of children `at risk' in Manchester has doubled in less than two years - prompting urgent calls for more social workers.

Figures obtained by the M.E.N. show 601 youngsters were on the child protection register in September - up from 252 in January 2007.

Now Pauline Newman, head of children's services, is asking council leaders to pay for a `major' increase in the number of social workers to relieve pressure.

It comes as Manchester Blackley MP Graham Stringer uncovered seperate figures showing the proportion of cases involving children referred to social services - but closed without a visit by social workers - rocketed between 2005/06 and 2006/07.

He said the trend was `very disturbing' and a number of senior council figures have expressed private concern at the performance of Manchester's children's services - formed by the merger of the education and children's social services departments.

One said: "They took two badly-performing departments and turned them into one even larger, more dysfunctional department."

Deaths

The department has been under huge scrutiny after the deaths of two-year-old Romario Mullings-Sewell and his baby brother Delayno, found stabbed at their home in Cheetham Hill.

The boys' mother, Jael Mullings, has been sectioned under the Mental Health Act. The M.E.N. revealed social workers had closed their file on the family earlier this year - despite Ms Mullings twice abandoning Romario.

Ms Newman has strongly denied allegations that social workers let down the family, saying Ms Mullings had continued to receive `mentoring and support' from her GP. The case is being investigated under an independent chairman.

The figures obtained by Mr Stringer show the number of children referred to social services soared from 10,234 in 2004/05 to 15,780 in 2006/07. It has since fallen.

The proportion of those cases that were closed before a visit from a social worker also increased - from 45 per cent to 61 per cent.

The figures sparked a major investigation at the council, amid fears rising case-loads were causing potentially at-risk children to slip through the net.

Ms Newman insisted a `sizable' part of the explanation for the rise was that a number of cases - including simple requests for information and advice from schools and nurseries - were being classed as `referrals'.

Dropped

She said the latest data showed the number of child referrals fell by 29 per cent in 2007/08, while the proportion closed without a visit dropped back to 34.2 per cent.

"We investigated this thoroughly," she said. "We wanted to be satisfied that the decisions being made were sound.

"It was clear that there was an issue with how we were defining referrals. This was a sizable part of the problem."

Ms Newman said the rise in children on the protection register reflected a determination to intervene in a `broader range of cases' - such as cases where a youngster was affected by domestic abuse.

It is not the first time the children's services department has come under scrutiny.

In January the M.E.N. revealed how an inspection of the city's fostering service found systems were `insufficient to ensure the safety and well being of the children and young people in placements'.

The Ofsted inspection concluded the service was `inadequate' in six key categories. A fresh inspection has since noted significant improvements.

Stabbed boys will haunt me forever