Folkestone & Hythe District Council Tax Arrears £6.72m; FOIs Disputed

Folkestone & Hythe District Council is currently owed £6,720,241.51 in unpaid council tax, an FOI disclosure shows. The headline figure is stark, but it comes with a caveat: FHDC’s FOI disclosures—whether issued to journalists or the public—have repeatedly contained inconsistencies and inaccuracies. It shouldn’t be so; alas, it is.

Largest Individual Debts

The three biggest single arrears cases currently stand at £28,917.46, £23,857.23, and £23,637.41—each first referred to recovery in December 2024, suggesting sizeable liabilities have only recently entered formal enforcement channels.

Thousands of Liability Orders

The council sought 3,822 liability order in 2022/23, 3,489 liability orders in 2023/24, followed by 3,232 in 2024/25, underscoring the routine use of magistrates’ courts to compel payment.

Bailiff referrals surge – and the figures don’t tally

Referrals to enforcement agents have accelerated: 948 cases in 2022/23, dipping to 674 in 2023/24, then jumping to 1,446 in 2024/25—more than doubling year-on-year from last year’s level.

Yet the Stop The Knock dataset (Money Advice Trust/Centre for Social Justice) records 1,432 Folkestone & Hythe referrals in 2022/23—484 higher than the council’s own FOI total for the same year. The Trust’s interactive map and downloadable spreadsheet collate local-authority responses for the financial year, so does NOT reflect timing or definitional differences, the gap is substantial.

The inconsistencies stretch back further. For 2018/19, Stop The Knock lists 1,774 council-tax bailiff referrals for Folkestone & Hythe, while a separate FOI disclosure from the council gave 1,600—a 174-case discrepancy. Together, these contradictions make it difficult to have confidence in FHDC’s published numbers.

Why it matters

Unpaid council tax reduces the resources available for essential local services—from waste collection to housing support—at a time of stretched public finances. Robust collection protects the public purse, but sharp increases in bailiff use raise questions about proportionality and the treatment of residents in financial distress. Nationally, Stop The Knock reports 2.7 million debts were sent to bailiffs in 2022/23, including 1.3 million council-tax cases—context that underlines how widespread and sensitive these practices have become.

A pattern of data contradictions

Discrepancies are not limited to council-tax enforcement. Recent reporting has highlighted conflicting figures in the council’s Temporary Accommodation disclosures, not once but twice adding to concerns over data quality and transparency. The council’s own FOI performance and approach to public data have come under scrutiny as a result.

What next

With arrears high and enforcement on the rise, the council now faces a strategic choice: escalate collection further or pivot to prevention—earlier contact, realistic repayment plans, and fast-track referrals to independent debt advice. Whichever course it takes, the first order of business should be basic housekeeping: reconcile the conflicting figures, publish clear definitions and a transparent audit trail, and commit to routine, quarterly disclosures that can be trusted. Until then, FHDC’s FOI disclosures should be taken with a pinch of salt—too often the numbers are inconsistent, whether released to journalists or the public. It shouldn’t be this way; alas, it is.

The Shepway Vox Team

Journalism for the People NOT the Powerful