Sefton Council: local authority assessment

How we assess local authorities

Assessment published: 20 June 2025

About Sefton Council

Demographics

Sefton is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside and consists of a 22-mile coastal strip of land on the Irish Sea extending from the primarily industrial area of Bootle in the south to the traditional seaside resort of Southport in the north. There are approximately 281,000 people living in Sefton.  

The population is mostly White British (95.81%). Black, Asian and minority ethnic made up 4.19% of the population which was less than the England average of 9.61%.

The population has an Index of Multiple Deprivation score of 6 (1 is the least deprived, 10 is the most deprived). Sefton is ranked 63 out of 153 local authorities with regards to ranking of Index of Deprivation. There are areas of higher deprivation across South Sefton.

Residents aged 65 years and over make up 23.63% of the population, working age people (17 to 64) are 57.29% of the population and young people under 17 are 19.09% of the population. Over the last decade the proportion of people aged 65 and over in Sefton has increased by around 10%. (Office of National Statistics, November 2023).  

Sefton Council is a Labour led authority with 66 Councillors (50 Labour and 14 opposition parties) representing 22 wards. Sefton Council is part of the Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board (ICB) together with 8 other local authorities and has been a member of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority since 2014.  

Financial facts  

The Financial facts for Sefton are:  

• The local authority estimated that in 2023/24, its total budget would be £476,069,000. Its actual spend for that year was £544,097,000, which was £68,038,000 more than estimated.
• The local authority estimated that it would spend £111,989,000 of its total budget on adult social care in 2023/24 Its actual spend was £119,322,000 which is £7,424,000 more than estimated.
• In 2023/24, 21.93% 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 5605 people were accessing long-term adult social care support, and approximately 1,525 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 2 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.