Slough Borough Council: local authority assessment

Published: 18 July 2025 Page last updated: 18 July 2025

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Assessment published: 18 July 2025

About Slough Borough Council

Demographics

Slough is a town within East Berkshire and is 20 miles from central London with direct rail links and easy access to major road networks and Heathrow airport. In 2022 it had a population of around 159,182 (Office of National Statistics (ONS) 2022). By mid-2023 this had risen to 160,713. Nearly 28% of the population is aged under 18, compared to 21% nationally. Only 10% of Slough’s population is aged 65 or over, compared to 18.7% nationally.

Slough is one of the most ethnically diverse local authorities in the country. In 2021, ONS data showed 46.75% of the population identified as Asian or Asian British, 36.05% identified as White, 7.57% as Black, Black British Caribbean or African, 3.98 as mixed or multiple, and 5.66% as other.

Healthy Life Expectancy is significantly worse in Slough for men (58.1 years) and women (60.3 years) compared to the England averages (63.1 and 63.9 respectively), which has the potential to see people needing health and social care interventions earlier in their lives and for longer. The mortality rates were above average for strokes, coronary heart disease, preventable cardiovascular disease and alcohol related deaths. They also had a rising number both of homeless households and people living in temporary accommodation.

The Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) ranked Slough 53rd out of 153 local authority areas in England, indicating high levels of deprivation.

Slough is a partner of the Frimley Integrated Care System (ICS) as 1 of 5 locality areas within East Berkshire, along with Bracknell Forest Council, Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead, Hampshire County Council and Surrey County Council.

Since 1998 the council has been a unitary authority, functioning as both a district council and a county council. The local authority has been under no overall control since 2023, and is led by a Conservative minority administration, with backing from the Liberal Democrats.   

Financial facts  

  • In 2023/2024 the Slough Borough Council’s actual spend was £273,087,000.
  • The local authority spent £56,305,000 on adult social care, which was 20.62% of the total budget.
  • The local authority had raised the full adult social care precept for 2023/24, with a value of 2%. Please note the amount raised through ASC precept varies from local authority to local authority.  
  • Approximately 2590 people were supported by adult social care in this local authority.

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.