Kent’s Most Deprived Areas: Rankings, Trends, and What Must Change

New government data shows Kent districts have slipped down England’s deprivation league over the past decade — and it has done so against the backdrop of Conservative austerity from 2015 to July 2024, when cuts to local government, welfare and housing support narrowed councils’ room for manoeuvre. The latest Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) confirms coastal Thanet remains the county’s most deprived district, while west Kent areas such as Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells are still among the least deprived. Yet even these better-off places have lost ground, signalling that Kent’s poorest communities have fallen behind as other parts of England improved faster.

The IMD is a relative measure: it ranks areas by comparing them with the rest of the country at a given point in time, so a drop in position can reflect others’ faster progress as much as local decline. That’s what we see across Kent — a general slide in national ranking since 2015, with the sharpest pressures concentrated in coastal and former industrial districts and a quieter, but still noticeable, drift in parts of the west.

Methodologically, the IMD combines 39 indicators across seven domains — income, employment, education, health, crime, housing & access to services, and the living environment — to produce a single score for each Lower-layer Super Output Area (small neighbourhoods of around 1,500 people). These neighbourhood scores are then aggregated to compare larger geographies, including local councils. In this ranking, a lower number means higher deprivation (with 1 the most deprived area in England).

Most Deprived Districts: Thanet & Swale Top The List

Thanet has consistently been the most deprived local authority in Kent. In 2015 it ranked 28th out of 326 English districts by IMD (using the “average score” measure), and by 2025 it had risen to 26th out of 296, further cementing its place in the bottom 10% nationally. (A smaller rank number indicates worse deprivation – Thanet’s move from 28th to 26th means it became more deprived relative to other areas.) This mirrors a broader national pattern of struggling seaside communities: coastal Tendring (Clacton-on-Sea) is currently rated the most deprived district in all of England. Kent’s Swale district is the county’s second worst-off – its national rank worsened from 77th in 2015 to 62nd in 2025, keeping it firmly among England’s most deprived quintile. Close behind is Folkestone & Hythe (known as Shepway until 2018), which went from 113th to 79th over the decade, remaining the third most deprived in Kent. Other east and north Kent districts – Dover (126th → 81st) and Gravesham (124th → 97th) – have also climbed the deprivation league, reflecting entrenched challenges in the coastal and former industrial areas of the county.

By contrast, the west Kent authorities have much lower deprivation levels – yet even these “wealthy” districts saw their relative positions fall. Back in 2015, the least deprived area in Kent was Tunbridge Wells, which ranked 282nd out of 326 (among the top 15% least deprived in England). But by 2025 Tunbridge Wells had slipped to 219th out of 296, no longer the best in Kent. Tonbridge & Malling, which was second-least deprived in 2015 (274th), improved its standing by 2019 and ultimately ranked 233rd in 2025 – overtaking Tunbridge Wells as Kent’s least deprived district. Sevenoaks and Maidstone also remain on the better-off end (Sevenoaks at 210th, Maidstone 160th in 2025), yet both lost ground compared to their 2015 rankings. In fact, as the new data shows, nearly every Kent district is now worse off relative to other areas than it was a decade ago.

A Decade Of Change: Kent League Table 2015 – 2025

The table below shows the IMD national rank of each Kent local authority in 2015, 2019, and 2025, and how much their position changed. (Rank 1 = most deprived district in England. Total districts: 326 in 2015, 317 in 2019, 296 in 2025 – due to boundary changes. A lower rank number means higher deprivation.)

Every one of Kent’s 12 districts has a higher deprivation ranking in 2025 than it did in 2015, meaning each became more relatively deprived in comparison to other parts of England. Even Dartford, which ended up back at the same rank (170th) it held in 2015, had improved to 154th in 2019 before sliding back by 2025. In short, no Kent area improved its relative national position over the decade. The biggest jumps in deprivation rankings were seen in Dover (which leapt from 126th to 81st) and Tunbridge Wells (from 282nd to 219th), indicating a significant decline in those districts’ standings. As a result, Tunbridge Wells lost its status as Kent’s least deprived area to Tonbridge & Malling. Meanwhile, Thanet and Swale remain entrenched at the top of the county’s deprivation table, with Thanet now ranking among the 30 most deprived districts in England.

Important: An area’s rank can rise or fall even if its own conditions haven’t changed, because IMD is a relative measure. For example, a district might become “more deprived” in rank if other places improved faster, even if that district saw modest improvement itself. Government experts caution that the indices are best used to highlight comparative patterns and inequalities, rather than precise year-on-year changes. In Kent’s case, the across-the-board drop in rankings.

Coastal Challenges And Long Term Trends

Kent’s deprivation picture underscores a persistent east–west divide. The relatively prosperous districts in west Kent – Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge & Malling, Maidstone – still enjoy some of the lowest deprivation in the county. By contrast, the coastal and industrial districts in east and north Kent – notably Thanet, Swale, Dover, Folkestone & Hythe – continue to struggle with high levels of poverty and disadvantage. While west Kent’s communities remain among the least deprived nationally, many eastern districts have slid further down the national rankings, extending a long-running trend

Local leaders say these problems are deep-rooted. “Obviously, this hasn’t happened overnight. This has been a long-term thing,” remarks Cllr. Steve Albon of Ramsgate, Thanet, noting issues common across many seaside towns like drug and alcohol problems and a shortage of well-paid jobs. “It’s a sad indictment of … how things are in seaside towns,” Albon adds, explaining that councils have struggled with limited resources to turn things around. Indeed, despite years of regeneration initiatives – from government **“Levelling Up” grants to coastal revival programs – the latest IMD data shows deprivation in places like Thanet has worsened relative to the rest of the country. Many of the county’s most acutely deprived neighbourhoods (such as parts of Ramsgate and Margate) remain stuck near the bottom of the national league table on multiple socio-economic measures.

At the same time, the wider rise in deprivation rankings across all of Kent signals that even the county’s better-off areas did not keep pace with improvements elsewhere in England. While none of west Kent’s districts could be described as “highly deprived” in absolute terms, their relative slippage suggests that other regions improved faster in the past 10 years. For instance, Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks – still among the least deprived in Kent – now rank closer to the middle of the national pack than they did in 2015.

Outlook And Implications

Kent has slipped down England’s deprivation league over the past decade against the backdrop of Conservative austerity (2015–July 2024), which squeezed local government, welfare and housing budgets. Coastal Thanet remains the county’s poorest district; even better-off west Kent areas such as Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells have drifted down the national table. Labour has held the purse strings since July 2024; whether the dial shifts will be clear when the next IMD lands in 2030.

The consequence is a wider inequality gap within Kent and between Kent and faster-improving regions. The IMD should now steer funding towards what will bite quickest: skills and education, primary and mental healthcare, and genuinely affordable housing in the hardest-hit neighbourhoods. Long-standing pressures in Thanet — echoed in parts of Swale. Folkestone & Hythe and Dover — demand sustained investment, clear leadership and credible delivery plans. Even with a policy reset, recovery will be gradual.

West Kent faces different strains: pockets of need beneath an otherwise affluent surface and continued cost-of-living pressure on vulnerable residents. The county’s headline remains sobering: historic coastal hotspots still top the local league, and all but one district is more deprived relative to England than a decade ago. The test now is delivery. By 2030 we will know if momentum has turned — and, ultimately, choices at the ballot box carry consequences.

The Shepway Vox Team

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Title: Rank One (Fuck You Tories)