These are stressful times for County Hall staff with the arrival of Reform UK and its Doge unit, which is tasked with finding efficiencies nobody else could during years of public sector funding squeezes.

Enter The KCC Insider - a well-placed County Hall employee writing for KentOnline - to give the inside story of what’s going on, offering context, gossip, and opinion…

So, welcome the whizkids with their laptops who are going to sort everything out with a few taps on their keyboards.

Reform UK’s Doge (Department for Government Efficiency) squad arrived at County Hall last week in the shape of the party’s chairman, Zia Yusuf, businessman Aaron Banks, and tech entrepreneur Nathaniel Fried.

A few days later, Yusuf and Fried quit the party, before changing their minds and rejoining at the weekend. So far, so not very efficient…

But KCC staffers’ woes started back at the beginning of May when a fresh from victory Nigel Farage told public sector workers in Reform-run councils the days of working from home (WFH) were over.

It really is hard to fully explain just how much that comment worried thousands of people around the UK who work for local authorities, not forgetting their relatives too.

Here in Kent, KCC employs around 8,000 full-time workers, a high percentage of them women, who also have childcare and elderly parent-care responsibilities to juggle alongside their jobs.

Flexible working is a legal right and, to be honest, a godsend for a great many people who would have to find alternative employment if in-office working became compulsory again - something which would also require a change in the law, not just a decree from Mr Farage.

There is a lazy and offensive stereotype that council staff are all sat at home watching daytime TV, out of sight of managers who themselves might be hanging about in County Hall, or languishing at home too, waiting for their gold-plated public sector pensions to kick in.

You won’t be surprised to hear that I think this is total nonsense. I probably work harder at home than when I had to go into the office. Yes, I am able to manage my work around personal responsibilities, but you’ll honestly find me at my laptop way past 6pm (often later) most days. The taxpayer gets their money out of me, don’t worry about that.

Thankfully, the new council leader, Linden Kemkaran, moved quickly to reassure people that nothing drastic was going to happen regarding WFH. I know a great many female colleagues were relieved that a woman was chosen to lead KCC, as she’ll know full well how difficult the life of a working mum is.

But back to Doge and again, I have to mention lazy stereotypes. There is this perception that councils are full of profligate people burning through public funds to pay for stuff nobody wants or needs.

You might be surprised to hear that when KCC trains the people entrusted to spend public money, the mantra which is hammered home is: 'How would this look if it were on a front page or online for everyone to see? Could you hold your head up high?'

There is a lazy and offensive stereotype that council staff are all sat at home watching daytime TV, out of sight of managers…

Colleagues obsessively care about getting value for money and doing the right thing, but I tell you - it’s not an easy task when there is so much to do, with so little to do it with.

KCC might turn over £2bn each year - £1.5bn from revenue and £500m in capital receipts, such as assets and investments - but you would be surprised to know how quickly funds get swallowed up, with adult and children services a very real financial timebomb, not to mention Kent Highways.

It looks after 5,400 miles of roads, pavements, streetlights, and other boring, but essential stuff. To put that into context: 5,400 miles is the equivalent of Kent to San Francisco - or, from the Medway to the Pacific.

For anyone interested, you can see where KCC spends its money - its Budget Book is right there on the internet - no hiding, no secrets, no fraud. All out in the open, as it should be.

The Doge team will no doubt be revealing their findings in the coming weeks, but what makes people nervous isn’t the threat that we’ll all be shown up as money wasters, but that the findings will be presented without proper context.

Local government is unbelievably complicated and deals with all manner of contracts which require financial and legal expertise. More often than not, we’re following policies and regulations set out in national legislation decided by government, not local councils.

My point is that anybody could grab a headline figure, such as ‘KCC spends millions of pounds on X’, but beyond the initial outrage, you need to ask ‘Why has it spent X on X, what is the background story?’

It’s not as sexy being the person asking the public to look at the tedious small print, but it’s essential they understand the full facts.

But all this said, who knows? Maybe the whizkids with their laptops might discover vast waste and shameful inefficiencies, we’ll have to see…

Before I go, another stereotype likely to be thrust forward by people opposed to what I have written above. People will say workers like me are all ‘lefties’ who are doing our best to poison the well for Reform as it goes about its work of trying to put the finances in order.

Hand on heart, I can say people at KCC aren’t hostile to Reform UK. We’re here to serve the public, and the party won fair and square. People can argue about vote share and turnout, but we have an established electoral system, and Reform came out on top. It’s as simple as that.

But what isn’t simple, however, is running a local authority the size of Kent and providing ever-expensive services on very tight budgets to 1.6m residents.

It’s complex, often under-appreciated, and always hard work…

Thanks to the local government nerd who correctly pointed out that the previous name of this column was incorrect because only central government can employ civil servants.