The number of councils that are failing to keep children safe has doubled in the past year, according to the first review of children’s services across the country since the Baby P scandal.

Ofsted said that fewer local authorities were classed as good or outstanding. Four were assessed as inadequate (compared with none last year) including Haringey, the council responsible for Baby P and Victoria Climbié, both of whom died from abuse and neglect. Eight councils were judged to be inadequate at keeping children safe, double last year’s total, and again including Haringey.

The regulator’s review of every local authority in England follows the death of Baby P, at the age of 17 months, after he suffered a series of injuries while living with his mother, her boyfriend and their lodger. He was on the at-risk register and had been seen more than 60 times by social workers and doctors, yet was not taken into care.

Haringey claimed to have done nothing wrong, and said that its children’s services had been given a good Ofsted rating after Baby P’s death in August last year. Further investigation disclosed that Haringey had apparently provided incorrect data and misled the inspectors. This led to concerns that many social services departments given good ratings could be failing children.

Yesterday Ofsted published its annual assessments of the 150 local authorities in England, giving a snapshot of children’s services in education, social care and health. While 73 per cent were judged to be good or outstanding, that was less than the 78 per cent of last year. Ofsted described as a “cause for concern” that four were assessed as inadequate.

Christine Gilbert, the Ofsted chief inspector, said that the regulator had seen significant achievements across authorities, but she added: “I am concerned that some services provided for the most vulnerable children and young people remain inadequate. We would expect those working in children’s services to address these issues as an urgent priority.”

The four councils judged to have inadequate services were Doncaster, Haringey, Milton Keynes and Surrey. Thirty-five councils were graded adequate, 99 were good and nine were outstanding. In the category of keeping children safe, eight were inadequate — Birmingham, Doncaster, Essex, Haringey, Reading, Surrey, West Sussex and Wokingham. Thirty-nine were adequate, 83 were good and 17 were outstanding. Three councils are contesting their rating, so their results have not been included.

The report said that there had been improvements in some areas, including educational standards. More children in care were being fostered or adopted rather than placed in children’s homes. Ofsted said, however, that more children on the register should be allocated a named social worker, and that councils should improve the stability of long-term placements and do more to reduce the teenage pregnancy rate. It said that unannounced inspections would be introduced.

Ed Balls, the Children’s Secretary, said: “In all nine of the authorities where there are inadequate judgments overall, or in safeguarding, we have either already intervened or are now sending in our intervention experts.”

Maggie Atkinson, president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, said that councils would be working urgently to make the necessary improvements.

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