Council scorecard
Kent County Council
- Type
- county
- Population
- ~1600k
- Political control
- Conservative
- Next election
- May 2027 (subject to LGR)
- Council website
- www.kent.gov.uk
Scorecard
Methodology published 2026-05-18. Pending cells reflect data collection in progress, not methodology uncertainty — they will populate as the underlying data is gathered.
Refuse collection
Missed bin reports, recycling rates, complaint resolution time
Refuse collection is a district/borough function; the county does not run kerbside collection.
Complaints handling
Volume, response times, LGSCO upheld findings
Significant LGSCO action in 2023: investigation triggered by KCC failing to respond to a mother's complaint about Speech and Language Therapy in her son's EHC Plan uncovered a backlog of 170 unanswered children's services and education complaints. KCC was required to apologise to all 170 affected, write to each individually, and review its EHC Plan procedures to meet statutory timescales. Substantial concerns about complaints handling at the time. Recovery trajectory + current performance to be tracked against the 2023 baseline.
as of 2023-07 · source
FOI response
Average response time, refusal/exemption rate, compliance with 20-day statutory deadline
Score pending — data collection in progress per the published methodology (2026-05-18)
Financial health & budget discipline
Revenue budget variance, capital programme delivery, reserves + Section 114 risk, external auditor VfM judgment, council tax positioning + trajectory vs national
Partial Metric 4 score reflecting council tax positioning (component 5 of 6) only; the five other components (revenue budget variance, capital programme delivery, reserves + Section 114 risk, external auditor VfM judgement, multi-year tax trajectory) remain pending data ingest. KCC Band D precept 2026-27: £1,758.60 (3.99% rise — at the legally-permitted max without referendum). Above the typical county council average; ranks at-or-above national county tier precept levels.
as of 2026-02 · source
Transparency
Open data publication, councillor expenses, contract register, committee paper publication
Score pending — data collection in progress per the published methodology (2026-05-18)
Planning
Application approval ratios, appeal-overturn rate, determination time vs statutory targets
Districts and boroughs determine the vast majority of planning applications. The county council handles only minerals and waste planning; that narrower remit is not assessed here.
Education & children's services
SEND/EHCP statutory processing, SEND tribunal LA-loss rate, children's services Ofsted rating, school transport delivery (county + unitary only)
Ofsted ILACS rated KCC children's services Outstanding in May 2022 (top scores in 3 of 4 categories, Good in the 4th). SEND services were under a Government improvement notice through to August 2024, when it was lifted following sustainable improvements; KCC has tripled monthly EHCP completions and is on track for the national 20-week average. Strong but not yet fully recovered.
as of 2024-08-08 · source
Safeguarding & LADO
LADO referral handling, multi-agency safeguarding (MASH) timeliness, Section 47 enquiry compliance, independent safeguarding audit findings (county + unitary only)
Safeguarding judged Outstanding within the May 2022 ILACS framework rating. January 2024 focused visit on KCC's "front door" (assessments, child-protection decisions, accommodate decisions) — published findings positive. Continued strong inspection record; specific LADO + MASH performance data tracked separately.
as of 2024-01-24 · source
Manifesto delivery (Trust)
KLN tracks what the controlling party promised at the most recent election vs what was actually delivered. KEPT/PARTIAL/BROKEN/PENDING/OUT_OF_SCOPE categorisation.
Trust score: 5 judged pledges + 3 categorised public issues, averaged.
as of 2026-05-21
School-system health in this LA area
This is NOT a score of the council itself. Schools in England are accountable through Ofsted and, for academies, their academy trust — not through the local authority. The council's responsibility for schools is indirect (place planning, SEND, transport, safeguarding — see Metrics 7 + 8 above). This panel shows aggregate health of the school system inside this LA's geographic area, because residents reasonably want to know.
School Ofsted ratings
Distribution of Ofsted ratings (Outstanding/Good/Requires Improvement/Inadequate) across schools in this LA area
KCC area: 89% of secondary schools rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted (placing it 2nd of 19 areas nationally, only Surrey higher); 92% of primary schools in top categories. 176 Outstanding schools across primary + secondary. Strong area-wide school-system rating.
as of 2025 · source
GCSE Attainment 8
Average Attainment 8 score across LA-area secondaries vs national average
KCC area average Attainment 8 score 46.6 — above the England average of 45.9, but a slight year-on-year decline. The presence of selective grammar schools lifts the area average significantly.
as of 2024-08 · source
Pupil absence
Overall absence rate (authorised + unauthorised) across LA-area schools vs national average
Score pending — data collection in progress per the published methodology (2026-05-18)
Post-16 progression
Share of LA-area Year 11s in sustained education/employment/training at 12 months
Score pending — data collection in progress per the published methodology (2026-05-18)
Top public issues for KCC residents
This is editorial assessment, not a metric score. Each issue carries an alignment tag — ALIGNED (council in step with residents), MIXED (some action falls short), COUNTERACTING (council against residents on this), or SILENT (no clear position). KLN-curated. Council positions added verbatim where provided. Right-of-reply opens with initial publication.
- 🔴Counteracting
Local Government Reorganisation impacting KCC's structure + staff
KCC faces dissolution into one or more new unitary authorities under the Devolution Act 2026 timetable. Residents have not consented; restructure cost falls on council tax payers; service continuity at risk through transition.
Council position
KCC formally opposes imposed unitary restructure; Reform UK administration has made push-back on LGR a public strategic priority.
KLN assessment
Statements oppose, actions enable. KCC has engaged with the LGR process, submitted material, prepared internally, and (per KLN's investigation) spent £113m+ during the 14-month period when statutory authority for the underlying changes was absent. The available blocking levers (formal legal challenge, mass non-cooperation, ultra vires resolutions) have not been used. Per the "actions, not statements" principle: COUNTERACTING.
Evidence
- 🟡Mixed
SEND/EHCP service failures
Years of backlog and tribunal losses in KCC SEND assessments and provision affect thousands of Kent families.
Council position
KCC acknowledges service pressures and commits to broader children-services reform under the 2025-2028 strategy. No specific 20-week-deadline-recovery commitment headlined.
KLN assessment
Acknowledged but not yet solved. Pace of improvement is the live test; KLN will track via Metric 7 (Education) and tribunal-loss data.
- 🟡Mixed
Highway condition + pothole repair backlog
KCC manages Kent's 5,400-mile highway network. Resident complaints about pothole frequency, repair timeliness, and surface condition are persistent year-round.
Council position
Reform UK has committed to remove "obstacles and inefficiencies" and work with local contractors directly. Specific funding + delivery targets to follow.
KLN assessment
Mixed: stated intent is aligned with residents' priorities but delivery against measurable standards is yet to be evidenced. £75m budget review may either help or hurt this service line.
How this scorecard works
Each metric is scored 0-100 and banded A through F. We do NOT aggregate to a single overall ranking — combining unrelated performance areas would mislead. See the methodology page for full details, thresholds, and data sources.
Spot an error or have data we should add for KCC? editor@kentlocalnews.co.uk.