From 2022 to 2023

I am conscious that, for a time in October-November, I posted relatively little. This was not because there was little going on, but that there was so much happening that I fell behind on posting.

2022 has been a turbulent year for us in Kent, as it has nationally and worldwide - and the effects of many of those global factors, ranging from weather extremes to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have been felt in the county. I have sought to reflect this, and to look forward, in a New Year message published today. 

Looking back twelve months, it is striking how much my (and many others’) hopes that we could move towards recovery and long-term planning in 2022 were confounded. The economic overhang of pandemic and lockdown, followed by the price shocks resulting from the Ukraine war, have seen to that. This has been felt in many ways; to take an example, the intense pressures on the bus network, which dominated the summer and caused so much anxiety to families across the county, reflected a combination of fuel (and other) price increases, driver shortages and a fall in usage that took place in the pandemic and has not been reversed. 

One result is that our budget pressures this year have been far more intense than in the past, and even with a big effort in the closing months of the financial year, we are likely to see a substantial overspend for 2022-23. That adds to our challenges in setting the budget for 2023-24 (which we will bring forward at the start of January). In the joint letter that the Leader of Hampshire County Council and I sent to ministers in October, we highlighted the long-term structural problems of local government finance, above all in relation to social care and children’s services; it is the combination of that with the year’s economic upheavals that made 2022 so difficult.

At KCC, we saw significant setbacks and shortfalls during the year, notably the failings in SEND transport in February and - also in the SEND area - a highly critical Ofsted/ CQC revisit in the autumn. Addressing these shortcomings remains a major focus for us. Yet there were also very positive developments. Ofsted rated our children’s services Outstanding; the innovative Reconnect programme, focused on opportunities for children and young people in the aftermath of the pandemic, came to a successful conclusion; people across the county responded magnificently to the plight of Ukrainian refugees, and KCC and its partners played a strong part in that; and we saw the beginnings of a positive partnership in health and care as the Integrated Care System for Kent and Medway got under way.

As we go into 2023, it will be through boldness and in breaking new ground, as through our joint work with the NHS and the opportunities of the government’s devolution programme, that we can seek solutions to the challenges we confront. 

With good wishes to everyone in Kent for 2023 as a year of recovery and renewal.