WILTSHIRE Police has been told the amount of paperwork given to officers investigating child abuse is putting cases at risk.

The conclusion comes in Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary - a review of the 43 forces in England and Wales.

Only six out of the 43 fared worse than Wiltshire, which was ranked good in tackling crime and fair in six other categories.

The finding is an indication that officers are being bogged down in administration.

The report says: "Since the linking of the domestic violence and child protection databases onto common architecture, the number (of referrals to child protection staff) by the end of the year to September 2007 was more than 2,000, which has vastly increased the administration burden, potentially directing staff away from the unit's core function (of investigating child abuse).

"Each referral is subject to mandatory review to ensure that all issues concerning the involvement of children are captured and risk assessed.

"This process is further magnified by the necessity to examine links made to intelligence reports, which if not carried out could compromise the health and welfare of a potential victim."

A force level child protection unit is being set up and the inspection recommends: "That the force undertakes a review of the impact of the establishment of the central referral unit on the workloads of child abuse investigation supervisors, who have hitherto been stretched by a referral administration burden that has posed risks to their effective case supervision role."

Despite the recommendations and the low ranking Assistant Chief Constable Andy Marsh was upbeat about the overall assessment.

Using an unofficial points system, the force scored eight out of a possible 21.

The six categories in which it was ranked fair were serious crime and public protection, protecting vulnerable people, satisfaction and fairness, neighbourhood policing, local priorities and resource management.

Implementing neighbourhood policing and protecting the vulnerable have both improved from poor last year.

Mr Marsh said: "A fair rating means we are delivering an acceptable standard which meets the national threshold.

"The present position is a good news story for Wiltshire which remains not just a beautiful county but one of the very safest places in which to live and work, with a police service that continues to improve and, in a number of areas, is viewed as being at the cutting edge of modern policing."

Bedfordshire is the worst-performing police force scoring just one point out of a possible 21 while Lancashire and Surrey were the best on 18 points.

Out of neighbouring authorities, Wiltshire performed better than Thames Valley which received seven points but scored less than Avon & Somerset (10 points) and Gloucestershire (11 points).