When people ask how public money is spent, they deserve a straight answer. That is the promise of the Freedom of Information Act. But when councils give different answers to the same question—weeks apart and millions of pounds apart—something is seriously wrong. This isn’t about data. It’s about trust. And that trust is being broken.
The Kent SEND Tribunal Scandal: £350 Million or £1.16 Million?
In February 2025, Kent County Council (KCC) responded to an FOI request (Ref: 54777017) about its legal spending on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) tribunals. The figures were staggering:
- 2021–22: £253,781,535
- 2022–23: £313,329,729
- 2023–24: £349,031,961
Those numbers raised eyebrows. Nearly £1 billion in just three years defending tribunal appeals? Campaigners, parents and journalists alike were alarmed.
But what came next defied belief.
Just three months later, in May 2025, KCC issued a second FOI response (Ref: 56805393) for the very same expenditure categories. The updated figures?
- 2021–22: £518,155
- 2022–23: £467,926
- 2023–24: £1,161,949
The difference for 2023/24 alone? More than £347 million.
These are not minor discrepancies. They are vast and irreconcilable. Both responses came from the Chief Executive’s Department. Neither includes a correction or explanation for the variance. No clarification was issued. No apology made. No press statement released.
How can the same public body report two completely incompatible sets of figures for the same years, within the same FOI framework, and consider that acceptable?
A Second Blow: Folkestone & Hythe Council’s Temporary Accommodation Costs
The alarm over KCC’s figures has been compounded by revelations just down the road in Folkestone & Hythe District Council.
In May we published a damning analysis of multiple FOI responses concerning the council’s spending on temporary accommodation (TA). The investigation found multiple contradictory figures for the same budget lines across three financial years:
2021/22:
- £366,835.69 (Ref 0029457)
- £389,103.00 (Ref 00239189)
- £389,193.00 (Ref 00168738)
2022/23:
- £219,469.30 (Ref 0029457)
- £378,725.00 (Refs 00239189 & 00168738)
2023/24:
- £818,072.91 (Ref 0029457)
- £506,611.00 (Ref 00239189)
- £473,181.63 (Ref 00222234)
These inconsistencies total hundreds of thousands of pounds. The council blamed “data filtration” issues and inconsistent timing. But no satisfactory reconciliation was provided.
Much like Kent County Council, Folkestone & Hythe is issuing contradictory FOI replies to identical questions. No internal correction mechanism appears to exist. No independent oversight is triggered. The same public is left scratching its head, wondering whether their elected bodies even know what they are spending – or worse, whether they are choosing to hide it.
Not Clerical Errors. Structural Failures.
These are not isolated clerical errors. They are structural failures.
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 was meant to usher in a new era of openness in public life. But when councils deliver diametrically opposed answers to the same question, the Act is rendered meaningless. Worse, it becomes a tool of confusion rather than clarity.
FOI should not be a game of chance. It should not depend on how a question is worded, which officer replies, or what internal system happens to be queried that day.
When two answers for the same data differ by hundreds of millions of pounds, we are no longer debating transparency. We are confronting institutional dysfunction.
The Impact on Vulnerable People
The consequences are not abstract. For the families of children with special educational needs, SEND tribunals are already emotionally and financially draining. To discover that the council may be spending tens or hundreds of millions fighting these appeals – or hiding how much it spends – adds insult to injury.
Likewise, residents placed in temporary accommodation deserve to know how much of the public budget is being spent on housing solutions that are often unsuitable or unstable. If councils cannot even report these figures accurately, what hope is there for reform?
These failures demand immediate intervention:
- Public Correction Notices: Both Kent County Council and Folkestone & Hythe District Council must issue clear, public reconciliations of the contradictory FOI responses.
- Independent Data Audits: An external body should be commissioned to audit the FOI data systems and financial records of both councils.
- Mandatory Disclosure Standards: The Local Government Association and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) must work together to create mandatory disclosure templates and audit trails for all financial FOI responses.
- Trigger-Based Reviews: When multiple FOI responses exist for the same financial category, an internal review process must be automatically triggered before publication.
- Legal and Regulatory Oversight: Parliament must revisit FOI legislation to introduce enforceable penalties for persistent or egregious failures.
Final Word: Trust Is Everything
If a council can give two different answers to the same question, the public can’t trust either one. And if the truth shifts with every reply, what else is being hidden?
Freedom of Information is not a loophole. It’s not a nuisance. It’s the law. It exists so the public can see what is done in their name, with their money. When authorities treat that right like an inconvenience, they don’t just bury data — they bury trust.
Kent County Council and Folkestone & Hythe District Council have given the public conflicting realities. But there is only one truth. And until that truth is revealed, every FOI response is a shadow, not a light.
Trust doesn’t break all at once. It crumbles, quietly, with every evasive answer and every silent correction. To restore it, councils must stop spinning and start telling the truth — first time, every time, without exception.
Because in a democracy, truth is not optional. And trust is everything.
The Shepway Vox Team
Deliciously Delightful Dissent
