Buckinghamshire Council: local authority assessment

How we assess local authorities

Assessment published: 18 July 2025

About Buckinghamshire Council

Demographics

Buckinghamshire is a large unitary local authority which is made up of market towns such as Aylesbury, High Wycombe and Chesham and rural areas. The local authority has a population of approximately 556,700 people. The latest Index of Multiple Deprivation data for Buckinghamshire is 1 (1 is the least deprived, 10 is the most deprived). The local authority is ranked 147 out of 153 local authorities with regards to ranking of Index of Deprivation. Buckinghamshire has had a 9.5% increase in population size since 2011. Buckinghamshire has a similar population aged 65 and over (19.06%) compared to the national average (18.96%), however this is projected to increase by 20.8% by 2033. Buckinghamshire has similar ethnicity to the national average; however, this is changing, and the local authority is becoming more diverse. The majority of the population of Buckinghamshire are White British (72.6%) with 12.4% Asian or Asian British, 7.3% White other, 3.5% Mixed, 2.6% Black or Black British and 1.6% Other.

Buckinghamshire is part of the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board (ICB). The local authority has strong links with the ICB including Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, and Oxford Health NHS Trust. There are 7 hospitals within the local authority, with the largest being Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

At the time of the assessment, Buckinghamshire Council was under a Conservative majority control with 147 Councillors. Following a boundary review, the council now had 97 Councillors.  

Financial facts

• The local authority estimated that in 2023/24, its total budget would be £940,777,000. Its actual spend for that year was £964,081,000, which was £23,304,000 more than estimated.  
• The local authority estimated that it would spend £236,364,000 of its total budget on adult social care in 2023/24. Its actual spend was £221,860,000, which is £14,504,000 less than estimated.  
• In 2023/24, 23.01% of the budget was spent on adult social care.  
• The local authority has raised the full adult social care precept for 2023/24, with a value of 2%. Please note that the amount raised through ASC precept varies from local authority to local authority.  
• Approximately 6170 people were accessing long-term adult social care support, and approximately 655 people were accessing short-term adult social care support in 2023/24. Local authorities spend money on a range of adult social care services, including supporting individuals. No two care packages are the same and vary significantly in their intensity, duration, and cost.  

This data is reproduced at the request of the Department of Health and Social Care. It has not been factored into our assessment and is presented for information purposes only.