Kent County Council
Reform UK has won its vote to pursue cuts to interpreter and translation spending at Kent County Council. Restore Britain wanted tighter financial reporting but withdrew its [...]
Saving Lives, Accused of Encouraging Trafficking: Reform UK’s RNLI Controversy in Kent
Two Reform UK councillors linked the RNLI to allegations of human trafficking during a heated Kent County Council debate. One was warned by the Chairman, another refused to [...]
Kent’s £144m SEND Crisis: Private School Costs Soar as Parents Fight for Places and New Schools Stall
Kent County Council is spending more than five times as much sending children with special educational needs to private schools as it did six years ago. Yet the number of [...]
Lost in Translation, Left in Danger: Kent’s Proposed Interpreter Cuts
Reform UK and Restore Britain want Kent County Council to change how it pays for translators and interpreters. But who pays the price if a vulnerable child cannot explain [...]
What Doesn’t Reform UK Want Kent Taxpayers to See? Another Council Audit Meeting Goes Dark
For the second time in less than three weeks, Kent County Council’s Governance & Audit Committee has met without an accessible live webcast. With millions in [...]
Kent Grooming Gangs: 355 Historic Cases Flagged as Ofsted Exposes Safeguarding Failures
There are two very different stories about how Kent protects vulnerable children. One is about safeguarding partnerships, specialist police teams, training programmes and [...]
Kent County Council Promotes a Pothole to Senior Management – Then Pays to Make It Bigger
In a remarkable breakthrough for local government efficiency, Kent County Council has discovered a senior manager who never complains, doesn’t require a salary and can [...]
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 [...]
One in Seven Before Six: Folkestone & Hythe’s Childhood Obesity and Food Poverty Divide
A child arriving at primary school in Folkestone & Hythe is more likely to be living with obesity than one living in any other Kent district. Meanwhile, a household [...]
Every Penny Counts? Kent Councillors Reject Urgent Review Amid £19.8m Children’s Care Overspend
“Can anyone explain to me why these very expensive contracts shouldn’t be reviewed, as Mr. Rayner suggested.” It was a straightforward question from Liberal [...]
Kent’s Childhood Lottery: £23.20 a Year, and a Generation Falling Through the Cracks
£23.20. That’s how much Kent County Council (KCC) reported spending on youth services in 2024/25 for every young person aged between 13 and 19. Not £23.20 a week. Not [...]
£267m in KCC Payments to Care Providers as One in Five Kent and Medway Homes Require Improvement or Are Inadequate
Nearly £267 million. That’s how much Kent County Council (KCC) recorded in residential and nursing-care payments between April 2022 and June 2026 to suppliers linked [...]
Every Penny Watched? Reform UK’s Kent County Council Gets Three Red Audit Warnings as Public Webcast Goes Dark
When Reform UK swept to power at Kent County Council in May 2025, its newly appointed leader, Linden Kemkaran, told BBC Politics South East she’d approach running the [...]
Cllr David Wimble: A Stranger to the Truth? The False Claims Behind His Immigration Speech
“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on.” At Folkestone & Hythe District Council full council last night, Cllr David Wimble delivered [...]
Five Reform Councils Pay 55p a Mile — So Why Are KCC Staff Still Getting 45p?
This is a Guest post by a Kent County Council employee I work for Kent County Council. My job requires me to travel across a wide operational area, around Kent and sometimes [...]
Your Home Flooded? Look at the Drain — It Could Decide Whether FHDC or KCC Is Liable
Autumn is already here. Leaves are falling, the days are shortening and winter is approaching — which means the question of whether Folkestone & Hythe’s gullies and [...]
Kent County Council Paid £27m to Place Children in Unregistered Homes Over Two Years.
Last month, The Shepway Vox Team revealed how Kent County Council paid Catalyst Care Limited £2,419,480.59 between 2021 and July 2025. Catalyst’s two controlling directors [...]
Kent County Council Register of Interests: Questions Extend Beyond Reform UK
Byline Times says it’s “not politically partisan” and promises to follow stories “wherever” they go, “without fear or favour”. Yet its investigation into [...]
Kent County Council Staff Suspensions: Seven Cases Lasted a Year or More as Average Hit 166 Days
Kent County Council says disciplinary issues should be dealt with through a “swift and effective process”. Yet its latest figures show staff suspensions averaging 166 [...]
Kent Local Government Reorganisation: KCC Considers Judicial Review of Option 4B
Reform-led Kent County Council says the Government selected a financially weaker model for reorganising Kent and failed to address serious concerns about the county’s [...]
Bradstow School Closed — Now Kent and Wandsworth Are Fighting Over £4.58m in SEND Fees
Bradstow School in Broadstairs educated and cared for children with some of the most complex special educational needs and disabilities. Kent County Council didn’t merely [...]
KCC’s £100m AI Surveillance Framework: The GDPR Guide That Thinks It’s About Electric Cars
Kent County Council’s national surveillance framework can help public bodies buy facial-recognition cameras, artificial-intelligence surveillance, biometrics, ANPR, thermal [...]
I Run a Care Home in Kent: Overseas Care Workers Are Essential to Social Care
This is a Guest Post I run a care home in Kent. That means when politicians talk about “foreign labour”, I don’t see a statistic or a convenient line for social media. [...]
KCC Scraps £14.5m Junction 11 Waste Transfer Station for Folkestone & Hythe After £722,000 Spend
Kent County Council is preparing to abandon its planned waste transfer station (marked in orange below) beside Junction 11 of the M20, writing off around £722,000 already [...]
Kent County Council’s £4m NHS Invoice: Zena Cooke, Ivor Duffy and the Missing Evidence
Zena Cooke (pictured below left) has moved on. So has Ivor Duffy (pictured below right). Cooke is now Lambeth Council’s Corporate Director of Resources and its statutory [...]