Continued unprecedented pressures have resulted in Kent County Council’s (KCC) Adult Social Care Service currently forecasting an overspend of just over 7% of its overall budget.
Conversely, the rest of the Council’s services are underspending, bringing the overall position to an overspend of just 3% of the total revenue budget of the Council.
The Leader of KCC Linden Kemkaran has said: “The latest monitoring report illustrates the incredible challenges facing the authority, particularly in relation to adult social care.
"When we were elected in May, it became apparent how challenged the adult social care budget was. Under the previous Conservative administration, this department clearly overspent massively.
"To remedy the situation we will need to make necessary but difficult decisions, and we will require some additional input from central government.”
The Casey Commission, tasked by central government, to review the National Care Service is welcome, however the next report is not due until 2028. This timeline is too late for most Councils’ budget build process for the financial year 2026/27.
In response to the current financial position, the Council is putting in place a series of measures to reduce the overspend. These include both targeted actions within adult social care and robust controls across the rest of the organisation, to mitigate the overspend as far as possible.
Note to editors
- The reports set out the revenue and capital budget forecast monitoring position, including progress against savings targets within the revenue budget, capital cash limit changes made between that Q1 and Q2 and monitoring updates for reserves, treasury management and prudential indicators.
- The forecast revenue overspend reported needs immediate attention and steps are being taken to mitigate the level of the overspend. The report details the activities that have are being implemented to improve the situation and Cabinet are being asked to endorse and support this approach when they meet on the 19th November.
- The Cabinet agenda, reports pack and webcast of the meeting can be found here Agenda for Cabinet on Wednesday, 19 November, 2025, 10am
