Council scorecard
Medway Council
- Type
- unitary
- Population
- ~280k
- Political control
- Reform UK with Conservative committee chairs (2026/27 cycle)
- Next election
- May 2027 (parish/town); next full council May 2029
- Council website
- www.medway.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
Partial Metric 1 score reflecting recycling rate (component 2 of 4, 30% weight) only; the three other components (missed-bin reports per 100k, complaint resolution time, service consistency) remain pending data ingest. Medway unitary recycling rate broadly mid-pack for unitary tier; specific 2023-24 figure to be added at next refresh against DEFRA WasteDataFlow returns.
as of 2024 · source
Complaints handling
Volume, response times, LGSCO upheld findings
Score pending — data collection in progress per the published methodology (2026-05-18)
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. Medway unitary all-in Band D positioned consistent with Labour's 2023 manifesto commitment to keep Medway's council tax the lowest in Kent. Position broadly verified for the unitary tier; specific tier-comparator value to be added at next refresh.
as of 2026 · 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
Score pending — data collection in progress per the published methodology (2026-05-18)
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 Medway children's services Good in July 2023 (uplift from Inadequate 2019). April 2024 focused visit on child protection + November 2025 focused visit on children in care both yielded positive findings. SEND-specific service indicators + tribunal LA-loss data not yet integrated into this aggregate score.
as of 2025-11 · source
Safeguarding & LADO
LADO referral handling, multi-agency safeguarding (MASH) timeliness, Section 47 enquiry compliance, independent safeguarding audit findings (county + unitary only)
LADO function judged improved from "erratic and ineffective" historical baseline to fulfilling its role per Medway Safeguarding Children Partnership. Recent focused inspections positive. Workforce turnover flagged as risk to sustained improvement by Ofsted. KLN's own Lakey/Medway safeguarding investigation series tracks specific case-level concerns separate from the aggregate score.
as of 2025-11 · 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: 3 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
Medway area has multiple Outstanding schools (Bradfields Academy, Fort Pitt Grammar, several Outstanding primaries) but the area-wide Good+Outstanding proportion is below the Kent average. Full distribution data pending verification against latest DfE Performance Tables.
as of 2024 · source
GCSE Attainment 8
Average Attainment 8 score across LA-area secondaries vs national average
Medway area average Attainment 8 = 45.9 (matches England national average). 29.27% of pupils achieve Grade 5+ in English and maths — slightly below the England average of 30.84%.
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 Medway 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.
- 🟡Mixed
Children's safeguarding (Lakey case and LADO referral pathways)
KLN's Medway safeguarding investigation tracks a specific case + the wider question of whether Medway's LADO + multi-agency safeguarding hub operate to Working Together 2018 standard.
Council position
Medway disputes some aspects of the investigation framing; FOI 005584 clarification request asked KLN to refine its questions on the LADO pathway. Council's public position is that safeguarding referrals are handled correctly within statutory frameworks.
KLN assessment
Mixed: council engages with FOI but disclosure pattern leaves substantive questions unresolved. KLN continues to track via Metric 8 (Safeguarding & LADO) and active FOI work.
- 🟡Mixed
Housing delivery — affordable + social housing
Medway faces persistent housing-affordability pressure; demand for social housing exceeds supply by significant ratios. Town centre regeneration progress is slow against Labour's 2023 manifesto framing.
Council position
Labour 2023 manifesto committed to maintaining housing services + green spaces; Innovation Park Medway + Riverside development under way. No headline social-rent delivery target.
KLN assessment
Mixed: regeneration activity is real but the scale of need + delivery timeline mismatch means residents' housing concerns remain largely unaddressed.
- 🟢Aligned
Council tax positioning vs service delivery
Labour's 2023 commitment to keep council tax the lowest in Kent is a clear position; whether services are maintained at adequate standard under that constraint is the live question.
Council position
Maintain low council tax + maintain weekly bin collections + free bulky refuse as headline commitments. Most other services tracked under standard performance reporting.
KLN assessment
Aligned with residents' tax-side preference; service-side test is whether quality holds at the constrained budget. KLN will judge via Metric 4 (Financial health) + Metric 1 (Refuse collection).
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 Medway? editor@kentlocalnews.co.uk.