On 17^th December, the Labour government published its Draft Local Government Finance Settlement for 2026/27 to 2028/29 following its Fairer Funding consultation over the Summer. Two contradictory responses were then sent to local community organisations; one from Maxine Holdsworth, CEO of Kensington & Chelsea Council, and one from Joe Powell, Kensington’s Member of Parliament. At least one of them is lying…

Briefings

In the Autumn, senior officers at Kensington & Chelsea Council (RBKC) began briefing charities and community groups that the local authority would be imposing unprecedented funding cuts from April 2026. This news informed grassroots organisations’ planning for the upcoming financial year as they braced for reductions to their funding and strategised for how they could continue to support their most vulnerable clients. North Kensington is already a lower opportunity zone, with three of London’s 10 most deprived wards: Golborne, Dalgarno and Notting Dale.

Set out in Kensington & Chelsea Foundation’s latest sobering analysis, levels of poverty and inequality are worsening exponentially in the borough, creating a widening education gap between rich and poor. One local charity shared with Urban Dandy that 85% of their service users identify as low-income, and 25% have members of their households with special educational needs or additional support needs. 90% of parents with children using the charity’s services said that, without support, they would have been stuck at home during the 2025 Summer holidays due to financial hardship.

Throughout its history, RBKC has preferred to provide only the minimum legally required to support non-wealthy residents, relying on its third sector to do a lot of the work usually undertaken by councils, This approach was explicitly stated in the early years of the borough’s existence in the late 1960s. RBKC representatives can point to millions of pounds going to local groups since the 2017 Grenfell Tower atrocity, but much of this money has been wasted, with the council seemingly trying to walk a line of providing essential funding while ensuring that the investment is not strategic, thereby stunting the local third sector’s growth and leaving it unprepared for financial crises.

What They Agree On

Regarding the Fairer Funding situation, Joe Powell MP agrees with RBKC that the council is facing a 5% cut in 2026/27. But that is where his and RBKC’s shared reading of the figures begins and ends.

On 19^th December RBKC’s CEO Maxine Holdsworth briefed local organisations on the cuts. She set out the numbers: that based on the assumptions that the council will raise council tax by 5%, find extra savings of £150 per household and see the government’s transition funding end in 2029/30, the total reduction in RBKC’s budget will be £108.5 million.

Briefing Note LG Finance Settlement 2026.27

RBKC Says

Responding to questions from Urban Dandy, RBKC’s press office told us, “It’s much worse than we expected.”

The council had anticipated a cut of £82.2 million, which they told us represented “40% of our controllable budget” and would be “existential for this Council.” They explained that “our total loss as a result of Fairer Funding would be £108.5 million, and that £61 million of this would be removed within the next three years.”

MP Says

Powell pre-empted the Council’s analysis in a letter to community leaders and charities, claiming that the real cut would be £16.8 million, spread over three years.

The government has given RBKC the go-ahead to increase council tax by any amount without a referendum. Without a council tax rise, RBKC says the total cut would be £134.6 million over four years. But Powell insists that the council is exaggerating, and stated that if RBKC implemented a council tax levy on people owning second homes in the borough, they would raise £12 million, which would reduce the total loss of income to £4.8 million over three years.

Letter from Joe Powell MP regarding Fair Funding

RBKC Says

Holdsworth’s briefing says a second homes levy would raise only £7.9 million.

RBKC Leader Elizabeth Campbell MP told Urban Dandy that it had been a “deeply disappointing response from the government” to the Fairer Funding consultation and RBKC’s lobbying efforts. She said that RBKC had been forced to consider “bringing 8,000 people on the lowest incomes into paying Council Tax for the first time.”

MP Says

Joe Powell defended the government, saying that funding is being allocated to help RBKC meet costs around homelessness and Special Educational Needs. He said the council should scrap its community consultation regarding the cuts, calling the engagement with residents and charities “misleading.”

In his letter, Powell stated that he will be making three other demands of RBKC: Implement a second homes tax; scrap any plans to cut Council Tax support for 8000 households and reverse all the proposed cuts to the charity sector.  

RBKC Says

Regarding the MP’s very different analysis, the Council’s press office told us they “can’t find how he’s got to” the £16.8 million total. They confirmed that RBKC intends to continue lobbying the government in search of a resolution.

Campbell told Urban Dandy, “It’s not right that well-run, efficient councils are being deliberately defunded for keeping taxes low.”

In a letter to charities on 14^th January, the Council Leader further responded to Powell’s £16.8 million calculation: “This figure is incorrect, and he has been sent a detailed briefing. I have been in contact with him and asked him to correct the record.”

Letter from Cllr Elizabeth Campbell to VCS Partners -14 January 2026 

MP Says

We requested clarification and comment from Joe Powell, but his office has not responded to us.

We Say

At least one of the parties is lying. While they squabble, the new financial year nears, and those doing the most for those with the least are left in the dark.

by Tom Charles @tomhcharles @urbandandyldn