Wandsworth Council has “let down the children it is supposed to care for” and been given an improvement notice from the Department for Education (DfE) given on August 11.

The notice is the latest procedure from the Government after Ofsted deemed the council’s children’s services to be “inadequate”.

It places stringent requirements on the council to prove it is displaying “clear evidence of progression”.

Wandsworth Council must establish an improvement board while the DfE will appoint an independent chairman of the board who will report on its progress to the department.

According to the notice the board must meet at least every four weeks. If in the future the board wishes to vary the frequency of meetings, this must first be agreed by the DfE.

The council must also provide administrative support to a level “sufficient for the chairman to undertake the role efficiently and for the board operate effectively”.

It comes after a February ruling by Ofsted released a damning report rating Wandsworth’s children’s services as “inadequate”, the worst possible rating.

Among the findings was the conclusion that vulnerable children, including those who were at risk of sexual exploitation, were left “at risk of harm”.

The Ofsted inspection came just months after the council had self-assessed its services as “good”, a decision Ofsted described as “concerning”.

The report bemoaned a decline in the standard of social work practice in the three years since its previous inspection, when the service was rated as ‘good’, highlighting a lack of “effective scrutiny” from “managers at all levels of the organisation”.

Ofsted said senior leaders, elected members, and managers were unaware of the “unsafe” front-line practices.

The report also stated that 10 children with ‘high needs’ leaving care had spent “unacceptably long periods” in unsuitable Bed and Breakfasts accommodation while other children had been left in situations where they were being neglected. The performance of the adoption services was deemed to be marginally better but could still only muster a “requires improvement”.

Ofsted also carried out an audit of closed cases reporting that 15 per cent of the cases audited required further action to assess risk and need. Wandsworth Council responded to the inspection with a £500,000 overhaul of top tier staff within their children’s services.

A council spokesman said: “Since last year’s Ofsted inspection we have developed and implemented a wide ranging improvement plan which aims to drive up standards across our children’s social care services as well as capitalising on the key strengths identified by the inspectors.

“We were quick to respond to these challenges and, thanks to the efforts of our excellent front line social care staff, we are seeing tangible improvements.

“Early feedback from Ofsted has been encouraging but we take nothing for granted and will do everything we can to speed up progress in the year ahead. This is the council’s top priority.”

Opposition deputy leader, Labour member Simon Hogg said: “The government has sent this notice to Wandsworth because the council let down the children it is supposed to care for.

“All councillors were shocked by the recent Ofsted report which said the council repeatedly failed foster children, children leaving care and teenagers at risk of child sexual exploitation.”