The announcement comes after Ofsted judged the council to be inadequate at safeguarding children in its 2008 Annual Performance Assessment. One of the noted areas of weakness was the "recruitment and vetting of staff working with children".
Prior to publication of the Ofsted report, the council had set aside £22.6m a year to improve its children's services.
Part of that investment will now be used to employ extra social workers to reduce caseloads, particularly in the assessment and child protection teams.
A council spokesman said: "We are absolutely committed to protecting our vulnerable children and we are dedicated to making sure each and every child in the county has the safe childhood that they are entitled to.
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