Folkestone & Hythe DC Funding 2025/26–2028/29: Core Spending Power, Council Tax and the Real Squeeze

On 17 December 2025, Government published the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 2026/27 to 2028/29 (a three-year settlement, with later years still subject to confirmation). 

If you only read the 2026/27 headline, Folkestone & Hythe District Council (F&HDC) is “up” — technically. But if you follow the numbers through to 2028/29, the story changes.

The full run of “Core Spending Power” (CSP) — including 2025/26

All figures above are taken from Government’s CSP tables published alongside the provisional multi-year settlement.

So:

• 2026/27 is indeed up by ~£35,700 (0.14%) — the “pound coin in the sofa” moment. 

• But by 2027/28, the Government’s own forward numbers have CSP below 2025/26 (down ~£616,000). 

• By 2028/29, it’s basically flat on 2027/28 — and still below 2025/26. 

Over the whole period 2025/26 → 2028/29, CSP moves from £24.796m to £24.213m: down ~£0.583m (-2.35%), while the per-person figure drops by about £8.61 (-4.1%). 

Where the “movement” comes from (and it’s not a secret cheque from Whitehall)

The multi-year CSP methodology assumes councils push council tax to the permitted limit (and assumes council tax base growth using recent averages).

For F&HDC, the “assumed council tax” in the tables rises from £12.623m (2025/26) to £14.573m (2028/29) — up ~£1.95m across the period. 

Yet total CSP falls, because the “Fair Funding Allocation” element (the needs/resources settlement core) trends down in the forward years:

• £10.043m (2026/27) → £7.385m (2028/29): down ~£2.66m. 

So the multi-year picture is basically:

“Assumed council tax up” + “core settlement allocation down” = CSP flat-to-down.

And yes: there’s a transition cushion — but it turns up late

In 2028/29, F&HDC picks up £0.643m in the CSP tables under a “funding floor/protection” line (part of the transition arrangements designed to phase-in reform and limit losses landing all at once).

That is not a “bonus”; it’s the policy equivalent of a safety net being lowered after you’ve started the climb.

One important “plumbing” warning about 2025/26 comparisons

If you compare February 2025’s CSP table for 2025/26 with the December 2025 multi-year CSP tables, you can see different-looking baselines for 2025/26 — because the multi-year tables change what’s counted in CSP and backdate adjustments for comparability, including moving/rolling certain funding streams into CSP (for example, elements of homelessness funding and grants rolled into RSG). 

This is why people can stare at “official CSP” spreadsheets and still end up in a sincere argument about what the council “got” in 2025/26: the labels moved, not just the money.

What this means in plain English

F&HDC is not being showered with new money over this settlement. The pattern is:

• a tiny cash uplift in 2026/27,

• then lower headline spending power in the forward years, even with council tax assumed to keep rising,

• and a per-person figure that steadily slides.

Or, to put it in Yes Minister language:

Citizen: “So, are we getting more money over the three years?”
Official: “In 2026/27, yes.”
Citizen: “And after that?”
Official: “After that, we are getting… an explanation.”

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