The new Reform-led Kent County Council entered office promising to “reduce waste and cut your taxes”. Yet it is now preparing to raise council tax after forecasting a £46.5 million overspend this financial year.
One long-standing cost stands out: a bill that most local authorities stopped paying nearly fifty years ago. Kent County Council spends almost £500,000 a year running the ‘Kent Test’, the county’s 11-plus exam used for entry to 32 grammar schools.
Across England, 35 local authorities have grammar schools, but only five councils — including Kent — still pay for and administer 11-plus testing. Major selective counties such as Buckinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Essex require grammar schools to run and fund the tests themselves.
Joanne Bartley, a Kent based member of Time’s Up for the Test, said, “There is simply no need for thousands of primary children to be put through this test at public expense. Most of the country dismantled selective education decades ago, and even in areas that retain grammar schools the councils no longer pay for testing.
The Kent Test is stressful, regularly inaccurate, and easily gamed by families who can afford costly tuition. Kent County Council is broke — residents see it in potholes, squeezed services and rising council tax. Most people would rather this unnecessary test wasn’t here, let alone paying for it.”
Kent County Council spends £223,000 a year on test papers and marking, and another £220,000 on administration, including promotion of the test, handling queries, and managing appeals.
The Bizarre Case of ‘Double Testing’
Despite the existence of a county-wide test, seven Kent grammar schools (Borden, Dover Boys, Dover Girls, Highsted, Mayfield, Folkestone Girls, and The Harvey) choose to run their own additional entrance exams. Families in Sittingbourne, Dover, Folkestone and Gravesend must therefore sit two 11-plus tests, doubling both stress and cost.
These second tests cost at least £71,845, with administration likely bringing the total to around £140,000.
Joanne Bartley said: “Nobody is thinking about the best interests of the children sitting duplicate exams for no educational purpose. The emotional cost is enormous — and taxpayers foot a double bill.
Kent residents now spend nearly £600,000 a year on 11-plus testing, including wasteful duplication. Many families dislike or never intend to use grammar schools, yet still fund a system most of the country has long since moved on from.”
With Kent facing a £46.5m overspend, TUFTT believes that the council must now examine whether it can afford to subsidise a test most of the country abandoned decades ago. Even in selective areas, councils typically leave grammar schools to run and fund their own admissions tests — raising questions about why Kent taxpayers continue to foot the bill.
