Children's services chiefs have defended the use of hiring expert troubleshooters on controversial ‘off-payroll' tax arrangements as necessary in ‘pressurised circumstances'.

The response follows a detailed report in the broadsheet weekend newspapers which revealed 20 councils whose children's services were deemed ‘inadequate' by inspectors Ofsted in 2013 had hired more than 40 interim directors or senior managers to run children's services in the past two years.