Reform UK Promised to Watch Every Penny – So Why Has KCC’s Oracle Cost Forecast Risen £21.5m on Its Watch?

Kent County Council’s Oracle Cloud Programme has more than tripled against its original £15 million implementation budget. More than two-thirds of the subsequent increase has emerged since Reform UK’s election victory in May 2025. Now the transcript of a July 2026 committee meeting reveals that Deputy Leader Brian Collins was already investigating what had gone wrong, while councillors questioned whether taxpayers were getting value for money. Three months later, the cost forecast has risen again, the timetable has slipped, and nearly £1 million in savings remains unidentified.

On 23 July 2026, Cllr Brian Collins Cabinet Member for Finance (pictured) told KCC’s Governance and Audit Committee that an investigation into the Oracle programme was underway. He acknowledged its findings weren’t yet conclusive and promised:

“I will bring it to G&A.”

He hoped the full report would arrive in the “very, very near future”.

Collins also offered reassurance about the timetable, saying:

“it is hoped that everything, the whole system, will be complete and ready by February.”

It was a hope, not a guaranteed completion date.

Three months later, the council’s latest report, prepared for 3 November, forecasts £46.891 million, some £2.928 million above approved funding. The first live payroll on the replacement system isn’t expected until May 2027, subject to testing. February readiness and May’s first payroll aren’t necessarily identical milestones, but councillors deserve an explanation of how the timetable has changed.

And what, precisely, did Collins’s investigation uncover?

Before Reform, after Reform: follow the money

The programme began with a £13 million allocation in 2021. Its approved implementation budget reached £15 million in July 2023, then £25.4 million by February 2025, before Reform UK won the county council elections on 1 May.

That’s a £10.4 million increase, or 69.3%, before Reform arrived.

Under the new administration, the reported budget reached £29.8 million in November 2025, £40.1 million in April 2026 and approximately £43.9 million in July. On 16 October, the forecast reached £46.891 million.

That’s another £21.491 million, or 84.6%, above the pre-election figure.

Of the £31.891 million increase since July 2023, 67.4% has emerged since Reform’s election victory. These are changing budgets and forecasts, not proof that all the money has been spent. Nor does the timeline establish that Reform caused every increase. But political responsibility for scrutinising new commitments rests with those running the council.

Every penny. Every nook and cranny.

On 21 May 2026, the elected leader of KCC, Cllr Linden Kemkaran (pictured) declared:

“We set a responsible budget and developed a deliberate focus on how every penny of taxpayers’ money is managed and spent.”

Collins had promised in August 2025 that:

“every nook and cranny is being investigated to identify areas of waste”

Well, Oracle isn’t some forgotten subscription buried in the accounts. It’s a multimillion-pound programme repeatedly demanding more money.

On 31 July, eight days after the committee exchange, Collins approved another £7,562,446 intended to fund Phase 2 until February 2027. The formal decision expressly linked Oracle to Reform’s commitment to make every penny count through DOLGE.

The councillor who saw trouble coming

At July’s meeting, Conservative councillor Harry Rayner (Con – pictured) asked:

“Realistically, was 15 million ever a realistic figure for the work proposed in Oracle?”

He recalled questioning the original assumptions in 2022/23 and drawing comparisons with Birmingham City Council’s disastrous IT implementation. Those were his recollections, but his central question was entirely reasonable.

Did £43 million represent value for Kent taxpayers?

Rayner wasn’t satisfied with the answers.

“It’s always jam tomorrow, but never jam today.”

Grant Thornton’s representative, Sarah Ironmonger, said she couldn’t reach a value-for-money conclusion until the necessary audit work was complete.

Collins also conceded that his own investigation hadn’t produced a complete picture.

When councillor Geoffrey Samme (Lib Dem – pictured) asked whether KCC could recover some additional costs from contractors, Collins replied:

“I don’t have an answer for that at this stage.”

So had the council overpaid contractors? Could money be recovered? Were contractual penalties available?

The transcript doesn’t establish the answers. But it confirms councillors were asking.

Then the external auditors delivered their verdict

By 15 October, Grant Thornton had reached a considerably firmer conclusion.

It identified a significant weakness in KCC’s arrangements for securing value for money relating to Oracle. Earlier budget-monitoring reports hadn’t always clearly demonstrated escalating costs and risks. The auditors concluded that programme delivery arrangements “have not been optimal”.

That’s an independent audit finding, not opposition-party rhetoric.

KCC’s own latest lessons-learned report records 72 Internal Audit observations: 41 accepted or partly accepted, six requiring clarification and 25 not accepted. The review highlighted weaknesses involving governance, project management, resources, contractor oversight and financial transparency.

The November report admits:

“Undoubtedly, mistakes have been made during the implementation process”

Which mistakes? What did they cost? Who authorised the decisions involved? And why weren’t 25 audit observations accepted?

Those questions demand something considerably more substantial than another assurance that lessons have been learned.

Nearly £1 million in savings nobody’s identified

The latest forecast stands at £46.891 million against agreed funding of £43.963 million.

KCC identifies £1.984 million in adjustments, including a £1.3 million Cantium credit note, contractor underspends and negotiated rate reductions. That still leaves £944,000 in savings not yet identified.

Nevertheless, its financial table finishes with a target budget variation of zero.

Oracle Cloud Programme Programme Status Programme Assurance and Lessons Learned.pdf

A target isn’t money in the bank.

 

And what exactly does the Cantium credit note cover? Is any of it related to the potential contractor recoveries raised in July? The published November report doesn’t establish that connection.

July’s transcript reveals another unresolved accounting question. Independent committee member Camilla Black repeatedly asked Finance Director Brendan Arnold whether Oracle expenditure would be capitalised — meaning recorded as an asset on the council’s balance sheet. Arnold explained the funding sources but wanted to check the technical accounting treatment.

“I don’t want to mislead the committee.”

That’s a reasonable precaution. But the exchange ended without a definitive answer.

And where the hell is DOLGE?

Collins put DOLGE at the centre of his promise to root out waste. July’s Oracle funding decision cited the same efficiency agenda.

So what did DOLGE actually uncover about this programme?

Did it examine consultancy costs, contractor payments, implementation delays or the assumptions underpinning July’s additional £7.56 million? Did it challenge the forecasts? Did it produce measurable savings?

The November public report doesn’t separately identify DOLGE’s contribution. That doesn’t prove it did nothing. It demonstrates that taxpayers haven’t been shown what difference it made to controlling this particular programme.

There’s another unanswered question about local government reorganisation. KCC suggests Oracle could eventually serve successor unitary councils. But Arnold acknowledged in July that other options and business cases would need examination. Rayner raised potential additional licensing and transfer costs. No firm figure emerged.

Enough assurances. Where are the answers?

Reform inherited a programme already £10.4 million above its original approved budget. That’s undeniable.

But a further £21.5 million increase in its reported cost has emerged since Reform’s election in May 2025.

At the 3 November meeting, Collins should account for his promised investigation, the latest timetable, the remaining savings and DOLGE’s contribution. Councillors should demand actual expenditure figures, a breakdown of additional costs and evidence that May 2027 is achievable.

Kent’s taxpayers were promised scrutiny of every penny and every nook and cranny.

Now there’s a £46.9 million elephant sitting in County Hall. It’s time Kemkaran and Collins explained why the bill keeps growing instead of serving up another helping of jam tomorrow.

The Shepway Vox Team

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