Nearly £2m will be required to implement a recovery plan in the children’s services at Wandsworth Council after the damning Ofsted report in February, a new report has revealed.

The education and children’s services overview and scrutiny committee heard on Tuesday night that the cost of the draft improvement plan requires a budget variation of £1,446,290 for 2016-17, with £657,000 for additional staffing to reflect an increased workload.

January 27: "Weaknesses" identified in Wandsworth's children's services leads to staff shake-up ahead of agreement with Richmond

January 28: "The game has changed": Council could not have prepared for Ofsted inspection, as £500,000 is allocated to reshuffle staff​

The service was so bad it delayed its merger with Richmond Council’s provisions adding a further £500,000 to the bill in January.

Increasing the council’s contract with Barnardos to five days a week to complete return home interviews with children looked after who run away will cost £100,000.

Dawn Warwick, director of children’s services, said: "The vision puts the child and young person at the heart of everything we do with an unrelenting focus on improving outcomes and taking pride in improving the lives of vulnerable children, young people and their families.

"Other conditions for success include the recruitment and development of social workers and their managers in frontline practice and manageable workloads which are kept under review.

"While Ofsted commented that workloads are manageable, there are pressures in the system which are being addressed and the intention is to ensure that workloads are kept under review systematically."

March 1: Wandsworth children's services director admits: "I should have known what Ofsted would find"

March 17: Replace, Delete, Add? Wandsworth Council changes motion after damning Ofsted report​

In February, the council received an Ofsted report into its children’s services that rated it the lowest score possible.

It was criticised for having a number of teenagers living in bed and breakfast accommodation, and for leaving some children at risk of sexual exploitation.

The council had completed a self-audit in June 2015 and assessed its services as "good", which Ofsted found concerning.

Since then, the council has worked with Ofsted to establish an improvement plan for the services.

Councillor Tony Belton, Labour speaker for education, said: "The Tories know that they are in trouble on this issue and have, therefore, shown a willingness to throw money at the problems identified by Ofsted.

"However, they have yet to come up with a coherent plan with clear milestones.

"They need a plan to address the inadequacies identified by Ofsted – and also to set the children’s services department on the path to a sustainable future.

"The Tories show no sign of listening to outside suggestions, critical or constructive, whether from Labour or the independent councillors.

"A more flexible response would help them and is, I think, essential for a successful outcome to this review."

A temporary audit team, installed until a decision can be made on whether a dedicated audit capacity will be established is costing £104,243.

Findings show that £300 was spent on a report called the "children’s social work health check", which focussed on workload management, and a healthy workplace.

The council will spend £60,000 for mandatory social worker manager and senior manager training, with contact made with Richmond and Kingston’s Achieving for Children, as well as Merton and Sutton and Newcastle University.

Councillor Kathy Tracey, children's services lead, said: "It is terribly difficult for anyone outside the authority but it is complicated and detailed and it shows our determination to make this right.

"I think we can make this right as soon as possible."

According to the report, the percentage of child protection visits completed during the year within the required timescales is currently 95.2 per cent.

The percentage of children visited within three days of the start of a section 47 inquiry is 53.7 per cent, putting the council in the red zone.

A children’s services improvement board is likely to have members including leader of the council Ravi Govindia, lead member for children’s services Kathy Tracey, two opposition councillors, and various representatives from schools in the borough.