In early January on his X/Twitter account Lee Nallalingham covered how Croydon Council had been redacting published data at a far higher amount than other London Borough councils. We covered this at the time and have previously covered the increasing rates of redaction at the council.
Mayor Jason Perry replied to Lee’s tweet stating that this level of redaction was a simple error, and that “the figure should have been closer to 8%”. He also stated that “We have now tightened the approach going forward and will correct the previously published 2025/26 data”.
On the 8th February Mike Swadling of this parish followed up asking Mayor Perry “we are now almost a month on from your welcome commitment to resolving this. You appear to have had the data for November at that time, yet I see on the Council’s website 67% of Novembers’ data totalling over £26 million is still redacted.”
As at the time of writing, 7am, 17th February the tweet has received no reply and historic payment data has not been updated. It is fair to note the newly published data for December has seen a dramatic reduction in the amount of costs redacted. I should also note the £26 million figure is correct, but the rate of redaction is 40%.
| % of Redacted Payments | % of amount Redacted | |
| January | 31.7% | 32.5% |
| February | 40.1% | 27.4% |
| March | 40.8% | 23.3% |
| April | 41.3% | 39.8% |
| May | 39.9% | 28.2% |
| June | 39.8% | 28.9% |
| July | 38.7% | 28.2% |
| August | 40.0% | 35.5% |
| September | 42.5% | 32.9% |
| October | 40.5% | 32.7% |
| November | 40.0% | 29.0% |
| December | 12.6% | 3.5% |
What are Croydon Council hiding?
Why has this not been published? Mayor Perry stated on the 9th January that the correct amount was “closer to 8%”. Either this amount is correct and Croydon Council are choosing not to provide this detail to the public, which leads to the question ‘What are Croydon Council hiding?’ or Mayor Perry provided his answer with no awareness of the correct amount and presumably no intention of resolving the issue, which again leads to the question ‘What are Croydon Council hiding?’
It’s entirely likely that redacted data provides little information of interest, in which case why not publish it like other councils? We of course take Mayor Perry at his word, that he had the correct information for November on 9th January. Why then has that level of detail still not been provided to the taxpaying public over a month later?
Council Tax up 33% in 4 years.
The new proposed budget for Croydon Council has been published with another 4.99% rise making a total of 33% over 4 years. With council finances still constrained following de facto bankruptcy it’s no surprise council tax rises continue at this rate. This comes on top of a further Capitalisation Direction of £119m “for 2026-27 to meet its financial obligations. These directions allow councils to fund day-to-day costs through borrowing or asset sales.”
Last year the government brought in the Commissioners to oversee the council budgets and ensure the authority fulfils its “best value duty”. The Commissioners costs are funded by Croydon Council Taxpayers, and presumably they get to see the data still being redacted from the public’s view. Given the disastrous state of the councils’ finances and the increased burden placed on us all, it is surely all the more important data on where the money goes, should be more rather than less transparent. Yes of course, some data needs to be redacted for legitimate purposes. But, Why was Croydon’s rate ever so much higher than other London Councils? Why did no one at Croydon Council ever question this? Why more than a month after the Mayor has stated he has different figures, have these still not been published?
