Budget Consultation 2026-27

Every year Kent County Council (KCC) must agree a budget which balances the money we spend on services, with the money we have.

We provide a wide range of services to Kent’s 1.6 million residents, spending over £2.6 billion annually. We are responsible for many of the services that affect people’s daily lives across the whole of Kent. These include things like social care for children and adults, schools, waste disposal, public health, libraries and roads.

We have been through an extraordinary period in the last few years with the Covid-19 pandemic followed by the significant economic turbulence arising from international and national circumstances.

In recent years, spending pressures have led to overspends on children’s services and residential and nursing care for older people, and these services are continuing to face increasing demand and higher costs. We need to manage this within the funding available, which mainly comes from Council Tax and Government grants.

Since 2011, we have had to find almost £1.1 billion in savings and income generation in order to manage spending within the funding available to us.

Over the next year, the cost of delivering our services is expected to rise by around £124 million. If we increase Council Tax by the maximum amount we currently expect the Government to allow, our funding is forecast to grow by around £74 million. However, there would still be a funding gap of around £50 million. This means we would still need to make difficult decisions about how we manage spending.

Have your say

As we plan our spending for the year ahead, we need to hear:

• how comfortable you would be with reductions in spending across our different service areas
• your suggestions for how to make further savings and increase income
• your views on Council Tax options.

More information is available in the Consultation Document, which we recommend you read before talking part in the consultation.

Tell us your views by filling in the consultation questionnaire.

If you cannot complete the online version of the questionnaire, a Word version is available from this webpage, which you can complete and return either by email or post.

Your responses will be considered by County Councillors at Cabinet Committee meetings, before the budget proposals are finalised and considered for approval by County Council in February 2026.

Busy Reader Summary, Easy Read and Large Print versions are available in the Documents section on this webpage.

And why not test your knowledge with our new Budget Quiz? It’s quick to do and you might find some of the answers surprising!

What we spend our budget on

For every £100 we spend, this is how it is split between the various services we provide:

How we are funded

Councils have four main sources of funding:

• Council Tax
• Government grants (ringfenced (allocated) for a specific purpose and un-ringfenced)
• Income from service users
• Business Rates.

For every £100 of funding we receive to fund our £2.6 billion revenue budget, this is how it is split between the different sources of funding: