The most vulnerable children in Surrey are at risk and not being provided for, according to a report published this week on Surrey County Council’s (SCC) children services.

The annual Ofsted report, which assessed 147 councils around the country, said SCC’s children services were “inadequate” at keeping children in the county safe.

It also found SCC to be one of only four councils with “inadequate” overall children’s services - putting it in the same category as under-fire Haringey Council, which failed to protect 17-month-old Baby P.

SCC said it was disappointed by Ofsted’s report and believed the county’s “capacity to improve” and the “overall effectiveness” of its children’s services was not truly reflected.

Peter Martin, SCC’s executive member for the schools, children and youth services, said: “Ofsted seems to have disregarded all the outstanding services for young people we provide, when drawing up these results.

“There were weaknesses identified earlier this year in social care. We have worked with the Government over the past nine months and significant improvements have been made, but these are not acknowledged by Ofsted.

“There have admittedly been weaknesses in our children’s services, but they have been identified and we are already working to overcome them. However, to suggest overall services in Surrey for children are inadequate is ridiculous.”

The report said about the council’s overall children services: “SCC delivers services for children and young people which do not meet the minimum requirements for users. The council’s capacity to improve, including its management services, is inadequate.

“Outcomes for children and young people in Surrey with regard to universal services are generally good. However, there are significant weaknesses in services to the most vulnerable.”

The report said there was inconsistent provision for children and young people with learning difficulties and disabilities and there were a significant numbers of teenaged pregnancies in women in care.

It also said while SCC was addressing the problem, it was too early to tell what impact its actions were having. The report also gave the council a mark of just one out of four for its capacity to improve its services for children and young people.

The report follows the revelation earlier this year that SCC had misled Ofsted over staff and child safety checks. According to Ofsted, SCC said in a self-assessment that all their staff and volunteers had been checked to see if they were a threat to children and vulnerable people, when in fact a high number had not had the CRB check - brought in to root out paedophiles and criminals from sensitive jobs.

After the damning report, Andrew Webster, strategic director of services for families and the officer with overall responsibility for making CRB checks left the council and two senior members of staff were suspended.