An inspection of Wirral Council's children's services department found there had been a "significant deterioration" in the quality of all services that children and young people receive since it was last inspected in 2011 and 2012.
Child protection services, support for care leavers, and governance were all found to be "inadequate", with the department receiving an overall "inadequate" rating.
The inspection report highlights concerns around frequent changes in social workers, issues in how partners work together, and evidence of poor records management across a range of areas including care leaver support.
The council has responded by committing an additional £2m to recruit additional social workers, improve training and management and to put more experienced, long-term leadership in place.
The Ofsted report states that inconsistent and sometimes poor application of thresholds by both the local authority and partner agencies is evident at every point that children and young people come into contact with children's social care.
"This leads to drift and delay for children who need help and protection, with insufficient recognition that action taken has failed to reduce risk in too many cases," the report states.
Meanwhile, although most social workers' caseloads were not deemed to be excessive, inspectors said they were very often complex.
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