Kent County Council has warned of an estimated budget gap of £81m for the next financial year, whilst also underspending on its capital programme by £192.7m in 2023/24.
According to the authority, Kent has had to find almost £1bn in savings and income generation to manage spending within funding availability since 2011. In the same period, the council’s revenue budget has increased from £943m to £1.4bn.
For 2025/26, Kent has estimated a budget gap of £81m as a result of spending demands and cost increases, particularly in services such as adults and children’s social care.
Last financial year, Kent was in a similar situation, with the authority outlining a savings requirement of £86m in 2023/24 and auditors warning that its s151 officer faced issuing a section 114.
In a recent statement to residents, Kent council stated that its budget “is once again a challenging process for 2025-26”, while further “tough choices” needed to be considered as the authority’s reserves have been used to balance previous years’ budgets.
On 31 March 2024, Kent had £357.6m in its general fund and earmarked reserves, down from £391.4m in April 2023.
This comes as a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has found that councils in England are likely to be forced to cut back some areas of service provision – and where this is no longer possible, face being pushed to the financial brink, following “silence” from political parties on local government finance in the upcoming UK general election.
Capital programme troubles
However, Kent County Council has also reported difficulty in its capital programme, with the authority underspending its capital budget for 2023/24 by £192.7m, according to recent documents.
The total approved general fund capital programme, including roll forwards, for 2023/24 was £409.1m, meaning that Kent underspent its capital budget by 47.1%.
Overall, this spending is part of Kent’s 10-year capital programme, with the slippage for 2023/24 being rephased into later years.
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