Oldham Council: local authority assessment

Demographics

Oldham Council is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester, in the north west of England. The borough is divided into five districts, with the majority of the population focused around Oldham town centre and Failsworth, Chadderton, Royton and Shaw. The east of the borough is more rural than the west and is comprised of Saddleworth and its surrounding villages. The borough is home to 251,560 people and has areas of both low and high deprivation, making Oldham a borough of contrast. It has an Index of Multiple Deprivation score of 9 (1 is the least deprived, 10 is the most deprived), placing it 25th out of 153 local authorities for deprivation in England.   

The population grew by 7.6% between 2011 and 2021 (Office for National Statistics, June 2022), with 25.47% aged 0 to 17 years, 58.80% aged 18 to 64 years, and 15.73% aged 65 years or more. There is a larger proportion of younger people in Oldham compared to England overall, and smaller numbers of working age and older people. However, the local authority expects the number of older people to grow by 30% over the next 20 years. The majority of people in Oldham identified as White, making up 68.11% of the population but this was lower than the England average. Additionally, the proportion of people who were Asian or Asian British was much higher than the England average at 24.60%. 3.40% of the population were Black, Black British, Caribbean or African, 2.50% identified themselves as of ‘mixed or multiple’ heritage, and 1.40% identified themselves as Other. 

Oldham Council is part of the Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership (ICP), alongside the local authorities of Rochdale, Tameside, Stockport, Manchester, Bury, Salford, Trafford, Bolton and Wigan.   

Since 2024, the local authority has been under no overall control and has been led by a Labour minority administration. The local authority comprises of 60 councillors representing 20 wards, of which 27 are Labour, 9 are Liberal Democrats, 6 are Conservative, 2 are Failsworth Independent Party and 17 are Independent.

Financial facts

• The local authority’s total spend was £525,855,000 in 2024/25, in comparison to a total spend of £491,690,000 in 2023/24. In 2024/25, 19.92% 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 £101,491,000 in 2024/25, compared to a total spend on Adult Social Care of £91,602,000 in 2023/24. The Local Authority spent £54,131,132 (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 4185 people were accessing long-term Adult Social Care support, and approximately 680 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.