Borough at centre of Baby P row ranked the worst in London

Haringey received the lowest possible mark as part of an annual local authority "MoT", while 19 councils in the capital were praised.

The north London borough was the only local authority to be told it was "not improving adequately", and dropped from three stars to one as part of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment.

The assessment gave 19 councils three stars and judged them to be "improving well" or "strongly". Haringey was one of just five councils across the country to drop by two stars.

Its children's services were heavily criticised in the wake of Baby P's death in August 2007. The 17-month-old boy was found dead in his cot after social workers missed opportunities to remove him from his abusive mother, her boyfriend and their lodger.

Haringey's head of children's services, Sharon Shoesmith, initially refused to quit but Children's Secretary Ed Balls ordered her to step down.

Labour council leader George Meehan and councillor Liz Santry, cabinet member for children and young people, also resigned. Today the new Haringey council leader, Claire Kober, said: "This rating clearly reflects the serious problems identified with our children's services at the end of last year.

"We accept that things went badly wrong with child protection. We are committed to making things right.

"We need to make major changes in this area. We have started that process and I am determined to drive through the changes needed."

Last week the authority announced it had called in help from other local councils to improve its services and reputation. A lower star rating does not mean a reduction in funding for an authority but any demotion is highly embarrassing.

The only other council to drop a mark was Barnet.

Chairman of London Councils, councillor Merrick Cockell, pointed out that 19 councils did well.

"These figures just go to show the great strides being taken by London's boroughs to ensure that every member of our community receives the best possible services.

"It is testament to the hard work being put in by councillors, council staff across the capital and our improvement partner, Capital Ambition, that we have doubled the number of authorities getting the best possible score."

The annual rating will be replaced next year by a more complex system relying on extra data.

Meanwhile, a report by the Audit Commission says that worsening councils' children's services are putting thousands of vulnerable youngsters at increasing risk of harm.

The report by the spending watchdog claims that standards have been in decline for four years. Haringey is joined at the bottom of the new league table with just a one-star overall rating by Surrey.

They are joined at the bottom of the new league table by Doncaster, where seven children have died of neglect, and Milton Keynes, which was criticised for its poor education.