As part of a broader deterioration in child protection services at City Council, complex cases have been assigned to "children in need practitioners", states the report of a focused visit in July, published this month.
Inspectors highlight high staff turnover and poor management oversight as key drivers of poor practice.
This has led to delays, with examples of children remaining on protection plans for years, leading to increased risk.
The report acknowledges that senior managers have begun to put in place policies to assess the impact of the decline and turn the service around.
It states: "A practice of allocating children in need cases to unqualified staff (children in need practitioners) has meant that these staff have been asked to work with, and take responsibility for, complex cases and, sometimes, inappropriate levels of risk.
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