St Helens Borough Council: local authority assessment

Published: 8 May 2025 Page last updated: 8 May 2025

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Assessment published: 8 May 2025

About St Helens Borough Council

Demographics

St Helens Borough is located within Merseyside in the North-West of England and covers an area of 136 square kilometres, of which half is rural, and half is urban. St Helens sits between the conurbations of Liverpool and Manchester and holds a strategic position at the heart of the regional transport network. The Borough includes the town of St Helens itself and smaller settlements such as Rainford, Newton-le Willows, and Haydock, each with their own distinct identity.

St Helens is home to 185,982 people. The majority of the population of St Helens are White British (93.6%) with 1.41% Asian, 1.08% mixed, 0.42% Black, Caribbean, or African, and 0.56% other. Around 43% of the population live in the top 20% most deprived areas in England. St Helens has an Index Multiple Deprivation score of 8 (with 10 being the highest and most deprived) and is rated 32nd out of 152 (1st being most deprived).

The number of people with long-standing health conditions is worse than the England average, with men spending and average of 27.9% of their lives in poor health and women spending 23.6% in poor health. Women in St Helens can expect to live to 80.5 years and men to 76.8 years (both of which are lower than the England average). St Helens has key challenges around mental health issues, including social isolation, self-harm, and suicide rates.

St Helens is located within the NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System (ICS) which covers Cheshire East, Cheshire West, Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens, Warrington and Wirral. The Borough has strong links with the Integrated Care Board (ICB), including Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust and Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

St Helens is a Labour-led administration.

Financial facts

  • The local authority estimated in 2023-2024, its total budget would be £349,747,000. Its actual spend for the year was £374,339,000, which was £24,592,000 more than estimated.
  • The local authority estimated it would spend £74,536,000 of its total budget on Adult Social Care in 2023-2024. Its actual spend was £80,663,000, which was £6,127,000 more than estimated.
  • In 2023-2024, 21.55% of the budget was spent on Adult Social Care.
  • The local authority has raised the full Adult Social Care precept for 2023-2024, with a value of 2%. Please note the amount raised through Adult Social Care precept varies from local authority to local authority.
  • Approximately 4,390 people were accessing long-term Adult Social Care support, and approximately 735 people were accessing short-term Adult Social Care support in 2023-2024. 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.