Council of the Isles of Scilly: local authority assessment

How we assess local authorities

Assessment published: 19 September 2025

About the Council of the Isles of Scilly

Demographics

The Isles of Scilly local authority covers a group of five islands 28 miles off the South West coast of England, nearest to Cornwall, with a population of 2,229. Most residents live on St Mary’s, with small populations on four other islands which connect to each other by boat or helicopter. The four ‘off-islands’ are Tresco, St Martins, Bryher and St Agnes. It has an Index of Multiple Deprivation score of 2 (10 is the most deprived) and it is ranked 136 out of 153 local authorities, with 1 being the most deprived and 153 being the least deprived.

The proportion of people aged 18-64 is 56.53%, which is lower than the national average (60.51%). There are fewer people aged 0-17 (16.33%) than the national average (20.80%) and they have the highest proportion nationally of people aged 65 and over (27.14%, national average: 18.69%). The majority of people (97.52%) are White (national average, 81.05%) and the largest minority ethnic group is Mixed or Multiple. (1.1%, national average: 2.96%).  

Isles of Scilly local authority is located within the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care System which serves a combined population of 582,782. It has a shared Safeguarding Adults Board and until recently had a shared Health and Wellbeing Board and shares a Director of Public Health.  

It is a unitary authority and has a committee system of democratic governance comprising 16 independent elected members. There is no party affiliation or groups within the council, however there is an Adult Services lead member. The local authority received an ‘Inadequate’ Ofsted rating following the last inspection of its children’s services in July 2023. A monitoring visit in February 2025 showed progress was being made. The interim Director of Childrens Services was also acting as an interim Director of Adult Services (DASS) at the time of our assessment. 

Financial facts

• The local authority estimated that in 2023/24, its total budget would be £6,416,000.00. Its actual spend for that year was £9,704,000.00, which was £3,288,000.00 more than estimated.  
• The local authority estimated that it would spend £1,058,000.00 of its total budget on adult social care in 2023/24. Its actual spend was £1,702,000.00, which is £644,000.00 more than estimated.  
• In 2023/24, 17.54% 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 15 people were accessing long-term adult social care support, and approximately 10 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.