Council scorecard
Swale Borough Council
- Type
- borough
- Population
- 152,000 (ONS mid-year estimate, rounded)
- Political control
- No overall control — Labour minority (rainbow coalition May 2023 – Dec 2024)
- Next election
- 6 May 2027 (whole council, all 47 seats)
- Council website
- swale.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
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. Swale recycled 34.9% of household waste in 2024-25 — well below the England average of 42.0%, 11th of the 13 Kent waste-collection authorities — with residual waste of 513.2kg per household, in line with the England average. Attribution: Labour-led administration (Tim Gibson) — rainbow coalition to December 2024, Labour minority for the remainder of the period.
as of 2026-07-02 · source
Complaints handling
Volume, response times, LGSCO upheld findings
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 — roughly 0.7 upheld per 100,000 residents, below the 1.0 district average — with no recommendations due for compliance in the period; 2024-25: no investigations completed. Among the lowest Ombudsman volumes in Kent. Attribution: Labour minority administration (Tim Gibson) throughout both years.
as of 2026-07-02 · source
FOI response
Average response time, refusal/exemption rate, compliance with 20-day statutory deadline
Score pending — Swale is the only Kent district with a dedicated FOI statistics page, but it was abandoned after FY 2021/22 (last published figures: ~97.5% of processed requests within the statutory timescale; ~10.7% refused in full — the only refusal-rate split published anywhere in Kent). Four missing years means the current-year components cannot be scored; the lapsed publication is itself a transparency finding. 0 ICO decision notices in the three years to July 2026; ~901 requests via WhatDoTheyKnow (Nov 2025 snapshot). A standardised information request for the missing statistics is planned for the next refresh.
as of 2026-07-03
Financial health & budget discipline
Revenue budget variance, capital programme delivery, reserves + Section 114 risk, external auditor VfM judgment, council tax positioning + trajectory vs national
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: balanced, with cost of services £303k (1.2%) under budget and £317k less contingency used than planned; usable reserves £23.0m ≈ 90% of the cost of services, with the General Fund balance at 12.2% (policy minimum £1.5m); the auditor found no significant weaknesses in value-for-money arrangements BUT issued an "except for" qualified opinion on the 2024/25 statements (prior-period property-disposal accounting). Capital: £14.7m of the £53.1m gross programme slipped — Sheerness Revival at £3.9m spend vs £19.4m budget on a revised grant timetable — though net cost variance was just £3k. Council tax: Band D £212.76, 3rd-lowest of the 12 Kent districts; 5-yr CAGR 2.91% vs 2.64% nationally. Attribution: Labour-led administration (Tim Gibson) — rainbow coalition to December 2024, minority since.
as of 2026-07-03 · source
Transparency
Open data publication, councillor expenses, contract register, committee paper publication
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 spending CSVs current to June 2026, the best on-site quarterly contracts-register CSVs in Kent, a March 2026 pay-policy statement with senior-pay table and org chart, and allowances data — all on a single transparency page. No FOI disclosure log or open-data portal, and some link labels are sloppy (an allowances link titled "2023 to 2024" serves the 2025-26 file). Attribution: audit conducted under the Labour minority administration (Tim Gibson).
as of 2026-07-03 · source
Planning
Application approval ratios, appeal-overturn rate, determination time vs statutory targets
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. 87.5% of major applications decided in time — below the 91.0% England average, on Kent's largest major caseload (128 decisions) — with 93.6% of non-majors in time and major appeal overturns of 4.8% vs 3.1% nationally. Attribution: Labour-led administration (Tim Gibson) throughout the April 2024 – March 2026 window.
as of 2026-07-02 · source
Education & children's services
SEND/EHCP statutory processing, SEND tribunal LA-loss rate, children's services Ofsted rating, school transport delivery (county + unitary only)
Education and children's services are not a district/borough function. The county council (or, for Medway, the unitary authority) holds this remit.
Safeguarding & LADO
LADO referral handling, multi-agency safeguarding (MASH) timeliness, Section 47 enquiry compliance, independent safeguarding audit findings (county + unitary only)
Safeguarding is the statutory function of the county council or unitary authority via the LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer) and multi-agency safeguarding hub.
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: 1 judged pledges + 3 categorised public issues, averaged.
as of 2026-09-29
Top public issues for Swale 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
Service provision on the Isle of Sheppey
Sheppey residents express concerns about service equity vs mainland Swale (Sittingbourne, Faversham) — health, transport, refuse.
Council position
The 2023 rainbow coalition (Labour, Swale Independents, Greens and an independent) dissolved in December 2024; Swale has since been run by a Labour minority administration. A specific Sheppey-focused strategy remains under review.
KLN assessment
Mixed: cross-party coalition is broadly aligned with residents' service-equity demand but specific Sheppey-focused delivery measurable outcomes pending.
- 🟡Mixed
Faversham creek + flood risk
Faversham + Oare Marshes face flooding pressure; residents expect coordinated EA + council response.
Council position
Swale BC statutory consultee on EA-led schemes; lobbies for funding.
KLN assessment
Mixed: constrained authority; EA-led decisions dominate. Advocacy is the channel.
- 🟡Mixed
Cost-of-living support
Swale residents have been hit by cost-of-living pressure; expectations of council schemes (warm spaces, hardship funds) are high.
Council position
The 2023 coalition cabinet committed to cost-of-living crisis response programmes; the Labour minority administration that replaced it in December 2024 has not withdrawn that commitment.
KLN assessment
Commitment in intent; specific scheme delivery + uptake data are the action evidence. Per the "actions, not statements" principle: MIXED until delivery is reviewable.
News from this council's area
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 Swale? editor@kentlocalnews.co.uk.