Have Reform Made Savings at KCC?

It's six months since Reform UK were voted in to run Kent County Council, so do their claimed budget savings stack up?

In the late afternoon of May 2, as the scale of Reform UK’s victory at Kent County Council (KCC) had become clear, one of its youngest new members and rising stars, Maxwell Harrison, set out the party’s intentions.

He declared: “Nigel (Farage) has made it absolutely clear we are going to open the books and see where the money is going, and things that are nonsensical spending will be gone.”

There have been many claims, and even the theatrics of a giant £50,000,000 cheque, since then.

Unsurprisingly, critics say the claims lack detail and often don’t stack up. There have been accusations of Reform’s top table taking the credit for decisions already in train under the previous Conservative administration.

KentOnline has asked repeatedly for access to the leadership to drill down on the details of its claims without success.

Opposition leader, Cllr Antony Hook (Lib Dem), as a criminal barrister, is a man who enjoys detail but his exasperation at Reform’s “unwillingness” to surrender specifics is unclouded.

“The trouble is that this is a clickbait council administration,” he said. “It’s all designed to get people’s attention at that moment but there is no detail in the papers brought to committee. It is enormously frustrating, it really is.”

Along with the Greens and the Lib Dems, Conservative KCC member Andrew Kennedy spent a number of weeks stress-testing Reform’s claims of financial achievement in a report titled “Lies, damned lies and statistics…”.

A Reform UK statement reads: “No amount of confused blathering by the Conservatives can make up for 28 years of incompetence and financial mismanagement at County Hall.

“Their comments demonstrate their poor understanding of finances, so it was little surprise they left the authority in such a financial mess.

“Thankfully, in just six months, Reform UK has managed to stabilise the finances through sound and prudent action.

“The Conservative administration left us with a disastrous financial position, with debts of £732 million, debt interest being paid at £84,000 per day, an overspend in excess of £20 million and having to find £121 million in our first year in savings and increased income just to balance the books.

“In six months, our debt has reduced by £67 million, we are on target to achieve in excess of £100 million of savings and increased income, and we have identified areas for significant savings in the future.”

But do Reform UK’s significant pronouncements since coming into office bear close examination?

Using a range of sources, these have been challenged with alternative, and often very different, analyses offered:
 
CLAIM: £2.5m saved from home-to-school transport (HST) by careful budget planning
Reform UK said it would use new technologies to maximise the efficiency of routes used by the providers of home-to-school transport, mainly taxi firms, the cost of which has hit nearly £100m a year.

But the Conservatives claim – one supported by opposition councillors – that the reorganisation of HST had already begun under the previous cabinet post holder, Rory Love.

Cllr Kennedy remarked: “This is a case of Reform UK simply implementing a Conservative policy already agreed before they took control.”

CLAIM: £1.5m saved by bringing children’s homes back under KCC control
The decision to bring children’s homes back into KCC ownership was a result of work by the relevant cabinet post holder during the Conservative tenure, Cllr Sue Chandler.

The Conservatives said: “At the time this policy was adopted, the Conservatives ran the council. Reform UK have not found this saving, they have simply continued a policy introduced by the Conservatives before they were elected.”

A statement from Reform concedes: “The decision to establish in-house provision was taken by the Conservative administration in February.

“However, Reform has been reviewing and updating the decision. Vitally, we have secured match-funding from central government that will make significant savings for KCC whilst maintaining or enhancing service quality.”

CLAIM: £206,000 saved through a 5% cut in all councillor allowances
One of the first announcements Reform UK made was a 5% cut in members’ allowances, generating £206,000, which it claimed could be redirected as grants to the voluntary sector.

But Conservative number cruncher Cllr Kennedy says it is not a “saving” as the money “was still spent”.

The Green Party claims it has already suggested a cut in members’ allowance for the 2025-26 budget and had opposed the reduction by the Conservatives of the councillors’ grant for good causes from £10,000 to £3,700, so the £206,000 is topping up what had already been removed.

CLAIM: Taxing foreign lorries entering the UK through Kent
Charging foreign lorries to use the roads in Kent is one of KCC’s ideas for raising revenues, potentially many millions of pounds annually. This could be ring-fenced for fixing potholes.

Tolls in other European countries are commonplace and vehicles would be charged as they get off ferries in Dover or trains at Folkestone.

Cllr Kemkaran told the Telegraph: “They’re using our roads…accessing the rest of the UK. It’s using our infrastructure and we have to pick up the bill.”

Cllr Harry Rayner, leader of the Conservative group at KCC, said the idea is unworkable because a foreign freight tax is within the gift of the

Chancellor and the Treasury. Similar ideas floated in the past, before Brexit, have been dismissed as too complicated and possibly self-defeating.

However, if Nigel Farage becomes Prime Minister, as current polling seems to suggest, that position may well be reversed.

CLAIM: £5.5m saved after paying off £50m Barclays loan 40 years early, saving £1,820 per day  (£664,000 per year) in interest
Reform said it was able to negotiate favourable terms if it settled the loan early. Head of finance at KCC, Cllr Brian Collins, said the money came from the KCC reserves.

The party maintains it is “prudent action that reduces overall indebtedness of the authority as it approaches potential local government reorganisation”.

However, analysts, such as Cllr Kennedy, suggest the funds came from cash collected from taxpayers but not yet allocated to services.

He said: “These surplus funds are invested in short-term ‘Treasury Loans’ for which KCC receives interest of 4% to 5%.

“Had the £50m used to repay the loan been invested, KCC would have received around £2m a year in interest, £1.3m more than they have saved by paying the loan off early.”

CLAIM: £14m saved by staying put at County Hall (Sessions House) and scrapping the proposed move to and renovation of Invicta House
Prior to Reform UK’s victory in May, there was some agreement at KCC that Sessions House was in poor repair, largely empty and considered “no longer fit for purpose”.

A sale was agreed to sell the building with a view to renovating and moving into nearby Invicta House. Reform ditched that idea.

The Greens have contended that even leaving aside the £2m in annual costs being double that of Invicta House, the eventual bill for refurbishment could be £67m.

The sale of the property, which has now been cancelled, will mean a loss of £7m in revenues, the Tories claimed. They also said there are £10m of urgent repairs at County Hall needed to make it legally compliant.

Cllr Kennedy said: “Reform UK have burdened the taxpayers with a costly white elephant which will be a financial burden for years to come for the sake of a cheap soundbite.”

Reform disputes this, claiming disposal of Invicta House instead of Sessions House “would result in a quicker, less complicated sale, eliminate holding costs and necessary capital works, whilst providing a capital receipt that could partially offset on-going essential work at Sessions House during KCC’s occupation”.

A statement added: “The prospect of local government reorganisation and the implications for KCC were additional considerations.

“The business case concluded that the best option for KCC, supported by the Reform UK administration, was to dispose of Invicta House, whilst retaining Sessions House, as it ‘offers the lowest capital cost, saving the Council up to £14 million in capital expenditure… it allows future authorities flexibility to decide on Sessions House and any related capital spending’.”
 
CLAIM: £7.5m saved by 2030 by scrapping the transition to electric vehicles and £32m saved by ‘un-declaring’ the climate emergency
Reform says dropping the future spend on electrification of its fleet from fossil fuels (thus making them Net Zero compliant) saves £7.5m. The party believes that KCC’s ambition to be Net Zero by 2030 is “ridiculous and unachievable”.

The Green Party, however, argues the fleet will have to be replaced at some point and officers informed its members there is little difference between the cost of fuel and electric replacements.

Reform says it will also save £32m by scrapping Net Zero compliance on buildings – such as better insulation – partly through cheaper procurement contracts not hamstrung by regulations.

Green Party councillor Mark Hood said: “They’re cutting the costs of the very things that will save the council money in the long run.”
 
….and, finally, what about council tax rises?
On Saturday, October 18, the Daily Telegraph reported Cllr Kemkaran as saying recent consultation survey results suggested two-thirds of respondents had shown support for council tax rises (A KentOnline poll suggested two-thirds were opposed to an increase).

Cllr Kemkaran was quoted: “The fact is the majority of people understand that to maintain the services that we supply here, it costs money.”

Although the article did not say so, it is thought her figures were contained in unpublished results from a KCC public survey on the 2026-27 budget which had closed on September 29.

The issue is prickly for Reform since the Financial Times reported a KCC cabinet member saying the authority may have to raise council tax by the maximum 5% permitted by the government.

Cabinet member for finance, Cllr Brian Collins, said earlier this month: “That was a personal opinion. The 5% figure is the figure the government would expect every council to be putting it up by. No decision has been made about council tax.”

During the May election, Reform UK’s leaflets did not appear to specifically promise to reduce council tax, rather it pledged to “reduce waste and cut your taxes” alongside two other commitments.

Cllr Kennedy argues: “I would contend this was a clear attempt to lead voters to believe a Reform win at KCC would deliver those pledges.