Folkestone & Hythe District Council

Scored on the two DEFRA-published components — recycling rate and residual household waste, FY 2024-25 final data (England averages: 42.0% / 513.3kg per household) — with the remaining components (missed-bin reports, complaint resolution time, service consistency) pending data ingest. Folkestone & Hythe recycled 45.9% of household waste in 2024-25 — fourth-best in Kent and above the England average of 42.0% — with residual waste of 404.0kg per household vs 513.3kg nationally. Attribution: Green–Liberal Democrat minority administration (Jim Martin), in office since May 2023.

as of 2026-07-02 · source

Small-numbers caveat: district-tier LGSCO investigation counts are tiny (0–4 a year) and a single case can swing the uphold percentage from 0% to 100%, so this score rests on process indicators — upheld volume per 100,000 residents vs the 1.0 district average, remedies offered before the Ombudsman, and compliance with recommendations — across 2025-26 and 2024-25, never on the raw uphold percentage alone. 2025-26 figures precede the LGSCO annual letters (due ~July 2026) and may be revised. 2025-26: 1 upheld of 3 investigations completed — 0.9 upheld per 100,000 residents, below the 1.0 district average — with timely compliance on the single case due; 2024-25: 1 upheld of 2, with the remedy already provided before the Ombudsman reached a finding. Attribution: Green–Liberal Democrat minority administration (Jim Martin) throughout both years.

as of 2026-07-02 · source

One of only two Kent councils currently scoreable on FOI. F&H reports an FOI/EIR timeliness KPI in its performance reports: 87% of requests within 20 working days in 2024/25 (95% in Q4) — but it has missed its own 90% target every year since 2017/18 (low: 79.2% in 2018/19; 82.1% in 2023/24, which the council attributed to a significant increase in requests). ICO component: 5 decision notices in the three years to July 2026, including an upheld failure-to-respond-in-time finding (Aug 2025) and multiple upheld EIR failures (Aug 2024) — 9 upheld vs 4 not-upheld findings. The refusal-rate component (30%) is not published. Attribution: the 2023/24–2024/25 KPI years fall under the Green–Liberal Democrat minority administration (Jim Martin, from May 2023); earlier target misses under the preceding Conservative-led administration.

as of 2026-07-03 · source

Weighted across the six published components: revenue budget variance 25%, capital programme delivery 20%, reserves & Section 114 risk 20%, external auditor VfM judgement 15%, council tax positioning 10%, council tax trajectory 10%. 2024/25 outturn (the 2025/26 outturn was not yet published at collection): £193k net favourable on revenue; capital slippage improved to 20% (£13.6m delivered of £17.1m); General Fund reserve £4.7m plus £13.4m earmarked; auditor: no significant weaknesses (all criteria Amber) and an unqualified opinion, while flagging a £3.6m medium-term funding gap to close ahead of local government reorganisation. Council tax is the standing weakness: Band D £313.92 is the highest of the 12 Kent districts — a position held for 23 consecutive years — with a 5-yr CAGR of 2.78% vs 2.64% for districts nationally. Attribution: Green–Liberal Democrat minority administration (Jim Martin), in office since May 2023.

as of 2026-07-03 · source

Fixed-date website audit (2026-07-03) against the Transparency Code checklist: spending-data currency and format, contracts register, councillor allowances, interests, committee papers, senior pay, open data, FOI disclosure log. Items not individually verified this quarter are scored neutrally and flagged. Monthly £250+ spending data current to May 2026 (a previously-reported procurement-card publication lapse appears remedied), a contracts register, senior salaries, organisation chart and pay multiples on a well-organised transparency hub. Councillor allowances and an FOI disclosure log were not verified on the hub this quarter. Attribution: audit conducted under the Green–Liberal Democrat minority administration (Jim Martin).

as of 2026-07-03 · source

Scored against the England averages (majors in time 91.0%, non-majors 90.8%, major appeal overturns 3.1%) over the 24 months to March 2026 (speed) and June 2025 (appeal quality), from MHCLG designation-regime tables; the enforcement-trend component (15%) is pending and the three measured components are re-weighted pro rata. The national "in time" measure includes agreed extensions of time. The best non-major speed in Kent — 98.1% decided in time vs 90.8% for England — with 89.5% of majors in time (just below the England average) and a low 2.2% major appeal-overturn rate. Attribution: Green–Liberal Democrat minority administration (Jim Martin) throughout the April 2024 – March 2026 window.

as of 2026-07-02 · source

Trust score: 3 categorised public issues (no scoreable pledges yet).

as of 2026-09-29

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