The inspectorate uncovered the problems at Swindon Borough Council during a visit focusing on the performance of its initial response to child protection concerns through its multi-agency safeguarding hub (Mash).
They found that social workers in the Mash are not always identifying whether a child is at risk of harm, which is leaving some in potential danger.
Decisions are not taken swiftly enough and managers and social workers are not considering all relevant information about children. Inspectors found that chances to intervene had been missed recently, as well as historically.
"Swindon's children's services were last inspected by Ofsted in 2014, when the overall effectiveness of services was judged to require improvement to be good, states the inspectorate in a letter to the council.
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