![\"Reform](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/H5GIUOQ5B53DR42RN08I.jpg\")
Reform UK have governed KCC since May 2025. Picture: Gareth Fuller\/PA Wire<\/p>\nKent County Council and Medway Council face a combined budget gap of more than \u00a360 million next year, despite making significant cuts, new analysis has shown.<\/p>\n
KCC alone is facing a budget gap of \u00a354.4 million in 2027\/2028, despite budgeting for almost \u00a390 million in savings this year.<\/p>\n
Reform UK have governed KCC since May 2025. Picture: Gareth Fuller\/PA Wire<\/p>\n
Medway Council is expected to have an \u00a38.4 million gap by the same point, despite identifying its own savings of almost \u00a316 million.<\/p>\n
The Labour-run administration has already secured an agreement for \u00a310 million in Exceptional Financial Support from the government.<\/p>\n
Across the UK, upper-tier authorities face a total budget shortfall of \u00a33.8 billion by the end of 2027, despite making \u00a33.2 billion of cuts this financial year, according to the analysis by the BBC\u2019s Shared Data Unit.<\/p>\n
KCC\u2019s Reform UK administration passed its 2026\/27 budget in February, which saw council tax increase by 4%.<\/p>\n
Councils can legally increase council tax by up to 4.99%; for increases of 5% or more, councils must have a referendum.<\/p>\n
![\"Medway](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/L04ZQOM93EXCFVHNAGSW.jpg\")
Medway Council leader Vince Maple (Lab)<\/p>\n
A KCC spokesperson said the need to make savings and increase income is due to spending demands rising at a \u201chigher rate than increases in available funding from central government and local taxation\u201d.<\/p>\n
This, they say, means \u201cfurther savings\u201d will be needed on top of the cuts already made.<\/p>\n
Total spending at KCC, however, has increased compared to last year, largely due to the council\u2019s single largest cost: adult social care.<\/p>\n
Opposition leader Antony Hook (Lib Dem) said: \u201cSpending has to grow no matter who\u2019s in power in County Hall, because one of the biggest expenditures is adult social care and we have an ageing population.\u201d<\/p>\n
Longer lifespans and increasing numbers of people living with numerous comorbid illnesses mean that \u201cpeople\u2019s care needs are more expensive\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n
![\"Lib](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MLEMMM7MQQ43B7O2LT9A.jpg\")
Lib Dem opposition leader Cllr Antony Hook<\/p>\n
KCC has also attempted to improve its financial position by selling assets, such as an art collection. It made \u00a327 million from asset sales in 2025\/26 alone.<\/p>\n
The full list of properties sold and planned for sale is secret, but is known to include sites such as the former Sevenoaks Adult Education Centre.<\/p>\n
But Cllr Hook said: \u201cYou can only sell something once.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to run an adult social care service and maintain the highways every year; that\u2019s ongoing expenditure. If you fund that by selling assets – once they\u2019re gone, they\u2019re gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
A KCC spokesperson admitted that asset sales \u201care generally regarded as one-off solutions which would have to be replaced with sustainable alternatives in subsequent years\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"County](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GPPO0XJ0C01EUOZHHWHW.jpg\")
County hall in Maidstone, where KCC is based<\/p>\n
Medway Council has a much smaller overall budget than KCC, but must still provide social care.<\/p>\n
Notably though, both councils are set to be abolished in the coming years.<\/p>\n
From April 1 2028, Kent will instead be covered by four unitary authorities.<\/p>\n
This means that the successor authorities will almost certainly have to take on parts of the assets and liabilities of both KCC and the relevant district councils they replace.<\/p>\n
When Northamptonshire County Council was split into two unitary councils in 2020, it initiated a four-year court battle over which council would have to pick up which assets and liabilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kent County Council and Medway Council face a combined budget gap of more than \u00a360 million next year,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[309,355,14,5,6],"class_list":["post-107625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","tag-kent","tag-medway","tag-politics","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117128870188572766","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}