The county council is trawling through applications for its new chief executive – which up until now has come with a £214k salary.

The current chief executive of Bucks County Council, Chris Williams, is set to retire at the end of the month but has enjoyed a salary of £214,296 in 2015/16.

The county council bid an official farewell to Chris Williams in February and is now whittling down the applications for his replacement.

The new chief will be accountable for managing the council budget of around £700 million, its net revenue budget of £320 million, as well as the council’s capital programme and other programmes.

They will also lead a council workforce of around 9,000 staff, but perhaps the biggest challenge facing the new chief executive is the monitoring of the council’s children’s services, which has been placed in special measures.

The job application pack says the council is a “historically high performing, well led organisation with a good track record of achievement” but admitted its reputation had “taken a hit with our children’s services.”

The new chief executive will be tasked with monitoring and ensuring “appropriate urgency and attention is being given” to Ofsted’s concerns, with the goal of taking the service out of special measures.

Leader of the council Martin Tett also gave his opinion on what “style of operating” the new chief should have to make their relationship work, including “a good sense of humour”, “no surprises” and must be willing to “roll your sleeves up and just ‘get the job done’.