Newcastle City Council: local authority assessment

How we assess local authorities

Assessment published: 28 May 2026

About Newcastle City Council

Demographics

Newcastle City Council is a Metropolitan Borough Council and has a population of approximately 300,100 over a 7 mile radius. There are two universities and a younger population than England overall. 

Newcastle is more diverse than the wider region. The reported ethnicity of the population shows greater diversity than the national average in some groups. 79.97% of residents identify as White, compared with 81.05% across England. 2.3% identify as mixed or multiple ethnic groups (England 2.96%), while 11.37% identify as Asian or Asian British, higher than the England average of 9.61%. 3.31% of the population identify as Black, Black British, Caribbean or African (England 4.15%), and a further 3.05% identify as belonging to another ethnic group, including Arab backgrounds (England 2.23%).

The Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) score (2025) is within decile 3, meaning it is in the top 30% of deprived upper tier local authority in England. The local authority's score is ranked 39 out of 153 local authorities, 1 being the most deprived and 153 being the least deprived. Newcastle has lower healthy life and overall life expectancy than the England average, with significant gaps between the most and least deprived areas. The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) identifies that 53% of residents in Newcastle are deprived in at least one of the four measured areas of employment, education, health and disability, or housing compared to 51.6% across England. In the most deprived neighbourhoods, such as Elswick and Walker, almost three out of four households experience deprivation in at least one of these areas.

A higher proportion of people in Newcastle described themselves as having a long term mental or physical health condition (20.9%) than England overall (17.7%), Additionally, 11.2% of people in Newcastle had a disability that impacted their day a little and 9.7% of people saying it impacted them a lot. People with a disability which impacted them a lot were mostly living in outer west, inner west and east of Newcastle, with more people living in the Walker area.

The local authority is part of the North-East Combined Authority along with the Durham, Northumberland, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland local authorities. Newcastle sits on the North-East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Partnership and the Integrated Care Board work with the local authority to achieve their aims of longer and healthier lives, fairer outcomes, and better health and care services.

There has been no overall political control in Newcastle City Council since November 2024, when changes in political representation ended the previous administration’s majority. 

Financial facts

• The local authority’s total spend was £557,709,00 in 2024/25, in comparison to a total spend of £525,472,000 in 2023/24. In 2024/25, 28.94% of the spend was spent on adult social care. Spend figures are net current expenditure (total service expenditure) sourced from Outturn Data and are not adjusted for inflation. 
• The local authority’s total spend on Adult Social Care was £161,968,786 in 2024/25, compared to a total spend on Adult Social Care of £135,956,175 in 2023/24. 
• The local authority spent £62,440,019 (adult social care spend) per 100,000 adults in 2024/25. Spend figures are net current expenditure sourced from ASC Finance Returns and are not adjusted for inflation. 
• The local authority has raised the full Adult Social Care precept for 2024/25, with a value of 2%. Please note that the amount raised through the Adult Social Care precept varies from local authority to local authority. 
• Approximately 5,015 people were accessing long-term Adult Social Care support, and approximately 1,290 people were accessing short-term Adult Social Care support in 2024/25. ​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.