£20,000 TO FIND COUNCIL BOSS?

CRUMBRIA: 27.6.2026

AS exclusively revealed this week by the Chronic, the chief executive of Crumberland Council is leaving his £214,000-a-year post.

The News & Shrug published its version of our story a full 24 hours later — padding out its second-hand piece with piffle from the CV of departing boss Andrew Seekings (left).

“Reporters” at the Carlisle comic once again left readers with more questions than answers.

What happens now?

Well, the Chronic can tell you.

Off the record and strictly hush hush.

Crumberland Council will look internally and externally to replace their outgoing boss.

In ridiculous Town Hall HR-speak, this is known as “hybrid” recruitment.

In normal English, it means fee-charging headhunters from outside Crumbria being brought in to wave the job under the noses of various Local Government guns-for-hire.

So as well as looking at promoting from within, the Council will also try to snare a big shot from outside the county.

We all know how that ends.

They rock up here close to retirement age with massive padded shoulders or luxuriant bouffant hair.

They then spout the most enormous balls about “challenging opportunities” and spend their days devising ingenious ways to save money by sacking staff paid eight times less than them.

They make all the impact of a fart in space and then piss off into the sunset with a massive cheque courtesy of the Crumbrian taxpayer.

We’ve never understood why any political party allows this vicious cycle to continue here – especially Labour.

Let’s also not forget that the Labour-daft Council is having to save £32m this year – on top of £50m since 2023.

And on the subject of fee-charging headhunters, back in June 2024 Crumberland Clowncil paid nearly £20,000 to Gatenby Sanderson, a “leadership and talent” finder for the public sector.

(An oxymoron if ever there was one.)

The Council’s HR and organisational development department handed over two payments to Gatenby Sanderson — £10,300 and £9,000 — for “recruitment costs”.

So don’t be surprised if a sum not unadjacent to £20,000, if not more, has been quietly put aside by the cash-strapped Council to bankroll the search for their next boss.