On 4 February 2026 the Kent and Medway Police and Crime Panel approved the 2026/27 policing precept and budget for Kent Police, finalising a funding plan that will increase the policing element of council tax across Kent — including residents in Folkestone — to help maintain local officer numbers.
The approved plan will see people living in an average Band D home pay an extra £15 per year (about £1.25 per month). The Band D policing charge will rise from roughly £270.15 to £285.15 a year, with the new rates taking effect on 1 April 2026.
According to Kent’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Scott, the extra money is needed to cover a roughly £27 million increase in officer and staff pay and to avoid an estimated £11 million shortfall in the 2026/27 budget. The PCC and the force said that without the precept rise they would have faced further savings that would have risked cuts to frontline teams.
The budget is designed to protect local services, including the ‘named beat’ (often called ‘named bobby’) approach that assigns specific officers to neighbourhoods in Folkestone and elsewhere in the county. The funding prioritisation followed the PCC’s public consultation and annual policing survey, in which more than half of respondents said they had experienced anti‑social behaviour — a top local concern cited in the consultation.
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