THE man appointed to sort out Somerset County Council’s failing children’s services has been warned he’ll “have his work cut out”.

Julian Wooster takes up the post of director of children’s services at County Hall in the spring on a salary of £130,000.

Mr Wooster faces a tough task in a department in disarray following a catalogue of problems – children’s services in Somerset have been judged “inadequate” by OFSTED, as have a number of children’s centres, while there was an investigation into claims that a staff member had sex with a 16-year-old resident.

Peter Lewis, who stood in as interim director of the department, caused controversy when it emerged he cost the authority £318,500 a year and was paid via an agency.

He left in November – the council said he was sacked, he claimed he resigned.

Mr Wooster, who replaces temporary director Rose Collinson, is currently head of children’s and adults’ services at Portsmouth City Council.

His appointment was announced after Edward Timpson, under secretary of state for education, said he was “currently considering next steps”.

He told the Commons: “I take any failure to provide children and young people with the services they deserve very seriously and issued the council with an Improvement Notice in November 2013.

“The Improvement Notice requires the council to institute an Improvement Board headed by an independent chair to drive improvement and hold partners to account.

“I am currently considering next steps in relation to this intervention and will inform Somerset County Council of my decision shortly.”

Referring to Mr Wooster's appointment, council leader Cllr John Osman said: “Nothing is more important than the safety and wellbeing of our children, so we’ve been searching far and wide for the right person to lead our children’s services on a permanent basis.

“It’s well known that there’s a national shortage of directors of children’s services, so I’m particularly delighted with the appointment we have made.

“Julian was an outstanding candidate with a proven track record and we look forward to welcoming him to Somerset.”

Independent councillor Mike Rigby welcomed Mr Wooster’s appointment, adding: “I hope he’s able to get a grip of the problems within the department and quickly achieve the level of improvement required by the public, councillors and Government Ministers.

“He’ll have his work cut out though, given the fact that Somerset County Council generally is severely underfunded.”