The chief executive of troubled Wirral MBC is set to take early retirement after just a year in the post, leaving the Merseyside-based authority seeking a new senior manager to lead its recent improvement programme.

Jim Wilkie was appointed as chief exectuive in April 2011 following the early retirement of former chief, Steve Maddox. Mr Wilkie has been off work in recent months and the council's director of finance, Ian Coleman, has been acting as chief executive in his absence.