Council Tax

Folkestone & Hythe Has Kent’s Highest Band D Council Tax for the 23rd Year in a Row

April 24, 2026 // 1 Comment

The official Band D benchmark says Folkestone & Hythe has sat at the top of Kent’s council tax table since 2004-05. It did so under the Conservatives who ran the [...]

Folkestone & Hythe Council Budget: Council Tax Rise, Reserves Drawdown and Debt Repayment Shake-Up

February 26, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s budget debate yesterday evening didn’t hinge on a big, obvious “cuts list”. It hinged on something far less [...]

Folkestone & Hythe Council Tax: The Numbers Were Blacked Out — the Bill Wasn’t

February 4, 2026 // 1 Comment

There’s a familiar annual trick in local government: lead with the smallest number you control, then hope nobody asks about the rest. This year, Folkestone & Hythe [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Tax Reduction Scheme: 100% Support, Bailiffs, and the Second-Homes Premium

January 29, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council has voted through a major change to its Council Tax Reduction (CTR) scheme for 2026/27, restoring up to 100% support for working-age [...]

Folkestone & Hythe Council Tax Rise Explained: Where the Money Goes and What It Means for Local Services

January 14, 2026 // 1 Comment

Folkestone & Hythe District Council has begun the annual civic tradition of explaining why everything costs more, while promising not to make it feel like it does. Last [...]

Kent County Council Budget Compared: Reform UK 2026/27 vs Conservatives 2025/26 — The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

January 9, 2026 // 2 Comments

Kent County Council (KCC) has now put two very different budget stories on the public record. The first is the Conservative administration’s approved 2025/26 budget (voted [...]

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

December 28, 2025 // 0 Comments

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 [...]

Kent County Council Funding Explained: Why the “£50m Boost” and “£127m Increase” Are Both True (Fair Funding vs Core Spending Power)

December 26, 2025 // 0 Comments

If you ever want to start a festive row in a Kent WhatsApp group, don’t mention politics. Mention “extra government funding” — and then watch three people produce [...]

Council Tax Bailiffs in Kent: Councils Ranked and What It Means for You

October 21, 2025 // 0 Comments

The numbers are rising. After a fall in 2023/24, Kent’s 12 district councils sharply increased the number of Council Tax debts sent to enforcement agents in 2024/25 — [...]

Is FHDC’s Council Tax Policy Unfair to Disabled Universal Credit Claimants?

October 21, 2025 // 0 Comments

An FHDC case exposes a fixable flaw in working-age Council Tax Reduction—and a lawful route the Council could use today. The Story In A Nutshell A disabled resident who [...]

Seven Days or Ten? FHDC’s Council Tax Clock Doesn’t Match Its Own Rules

October 16, 2025 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council (FHDC) tells residents two different things about the same, high-stakes moment: how quickly you must clear council tax arrears after a [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Budget 2026/27: Council Tax Rises, Services, and Risks

October 15, 2025 // 1 Comment

Folkestone & Hythe District Council published its 2025/26 Budget Strategy last December and its 2026/27 Budget Strategy this October. Read together, they show a Council [...]

Kent Council Tax to Exceed £1 Billion Under Reform UK Leadership

October 7, 2025 // 3 Comments

Kent County Council is set to raise council tax by the maximum allowed 5% next year, making it the latest Reform UK-controlled authority to backtrack on promises of [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Tax: Bailiff Figures Skewed by Manual Counts

September 26, 2025 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council (FHDC) has released fresh numbers on how often it sends Council Tax debts to private bailiffs — and they don’t line up with [...]

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

August 28, 2025 // 0 Comments

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 [...]

Explained: How Local Councils Raise Council Tax Without a Referendum

July 30, 2025 // 0 Comments

What happened to residents’ right to vote on ‘excessive’ council tax increases? And what does that have to do with the growing number of councils in financial crisis? [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Plans 100% Council Tax Reduction: £1.75m Shortfall Looms

July 16, 2025 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council is preparing to launch a public consultation on a bold plan that could restore 100% Council Tax Reduction (CTR) for the district’s [...]

Half of households on Council waiting lists in Kent & Medway could be housed in long term empty properties.

January 30, 2025 // 0 Comments

The number of people on Kent & Medway Council’s housing registers stood at 15,592, as of March 2023 (latest data available). In Oct 2023, the number of long term [...]

Budget: Green & Lib Dem Councillors deliver above inflation price rises and the highest Council Tax in Kent

February 29, 2024 // 6 Comments

So the Greens have set their first budget, with the help of the Lib Dems. The vote to implement their budget on Wednesday 28 February 2024, at Full Council was: 13 For [...]

Tory profligacy means newly elected Council must find savings of £3m

November 3, 2023 // 3 Comments

‘History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce’ Karl Marx In Feb 2004 the then Tory led Shepway District Council voted for a 39% increase in its [...]

long term empty homes & second homes on the rise in the district

August 16, 2023 // 4 Comments

On the 26 July 2023, Cabinet Member for Housing & Homelessness Cllr Rebecca Shoob (Green) informed the world there were 1,540 households on the council housing waiting [...]

A vote for Rylands is a vote to help local Folkestone charities

May 2, 2023 // 1 Comment

At the beginning of my campaign I promised to donate my Councillor allowance to local Folkestone based charities, if elected. The charities who I would donate to, if elected, [...]

Part 2: Solutions to lower your Council Tax by £128

April 25, 2023 // 0 Comments

Exclusive I have already put forward solutions to lower your Council Tax by £128 This would apply to every household who pays council tax, wherever the household may be in [...]

Solutions to lower your Council Tax by £128

March 24, 2023 // 6 Comments

This is a Guest Post Hello peps, today I am going to explain how it is possible to lower your Council Tax, and put some money away into the Council’s piggy bank more [...]

Cllr Stuart Peall deliberately and knowingly misled Cllrs over Council Tax

February 22, 2023 // 3 Comments

So residents of Folkestone & Hythe District Council have the highest Council Tax of any Council, in Kent, for the twentieth year in a row. Regardless of the nonsense Cllr [...]

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