A SECRET plan which may lead to the closure of Bolton Council's last care home has been uncovered by the Bolton Evening News.

Manor Court in Harwood could be axed in a bid to make savings in adult services.

But council bosses who discussed the confidential report insist the home would not be closed before April, 2007.

They say a full consultation would be carried out this year over the home which has 27 beds and seven residents.

John Rutherford, acting director of adult services, said: "The purpose of the report was to update members regarding the issues and priorities for 2006/07 and 2007/08 following the announcement of the governments funding - identifying the big issues which will need to be funded in 2006/07.

"The report also identified the need to make savings in 2006/07 and included a range of proposals in relation to eligibility criteria, reducing overheads, re-providing services and increasing charges. This process occurs every year as we consider all options and match them against priorities."

Manor Court is the only council-owned long-stay residential care home still open in Bolton after social services bosses closed their other homes in 2002 following a borough-wide review.

Mr Rutherford said the report was confidential because it contained a range of options which may or may not be approved.

"This report was for information and discussion only in order to highlight the impact if any of these options were finally approved," he said.

"The confidentiality is primarily to ensure vulnerable people are not unduly distressed by items that may never come to fruition."

But private care home owners are predicting a crisis for elderly people as many of them have been forced to close because they say they are underfunded. Bolton Council pays £330 per private care home resident each week and greater emphasis is being put on care in the community, with elderly people remaining at home.

Former Bolton Wanderers defender Mick Bennett closed Queensdale Rest Home for the Elderly in December, saying he could no longer afford to run it.

He said: "This is definitely going to get worse before it gets better. It wont be long before there is a serious bed shortage."

Ann Collins, who runs the Abafields Care Home, Bromwich Street, The Haulgh, has already been forced to charge families £40 a week top-up fees to meet costs.

Tory councillor Andy Morgan, vice-chairman of the Bolton Association of Registered Care Homes, said: "The council is looking at a number of options in relation to Manor Court.

"Whatever decision the executive member makes, I urge him only to make it after full consultation with residents, relatives and staff, along with health, private and voluntary sector partners."