Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council: local authority assessment

Published: 24 October 2025 Page last updated: 30 October 2025

Assessment published: 24 October 2025

About Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

Demographics

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council is a unitary authority in the north-east of England. It is home to an estimated 202,415 residents (June 2023) who live across the borough’s towns of Norton, Billingham, The Villages, Thornaby, Ingleby Barwick, Yarm, and Stockton. The population grew by 2.6% between 2011 and 2021 (Office for National Statistics, June 2022), with 21.78% aged 0 to 17 years, 19.42% aged 65 years, and 58.80% aged 18 to 64 years.

The majority of people in Stockton-on-Tees identified as White, making up 92.04% of the population. 1.12% were Black, Black British, Caribbean or African, 4.6% were Asian, Asian British, 1.39% identified themselves as of ‘mixed or multiple’ heritage, and 0.85% identified themselves under ‘other’ category. The borough had the third largest population of Asian or Asian British residents in the north-east.

The borough of Stockton-on-Tees had an index of multiple deprivation score of 6 (1 is the least deprived, 10 is the most deprived), placing Stockton-on-Tees 77^th out of 153 local authorities for deprivation in England. The largest discrepancy in life expectancy between wards in Stockton-on-Tees was 21-year and 14-year for men and women respectively, and 9 of 27 wards in the Borough were among the 10% most deprived wards in the UK.

The local authority is Labour led, with no overall political control and 56 Councilors represent 27 wards.

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council is part of the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS) together with 13 other local authorities. It worked with the NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB), Tees Esk & Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV), North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, and South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in areas such as hospital discharge and prevention.

Financial facts

The Financial facts for Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council are:

The Local Authority’s estimated total budget for 2023/24 was £290,024,000. Its actual spend for the year was £323,155,000, which was £33,131,000 more than estimated.
The local authority estimated it would spend £63,334,000 of its total budget on Adult Social Care in 2023/24. Its actual spend was £69,253,000, which is 21.43% of the total budget and £5,919,000 more than estimated.
The local authority has raised the full adult social care precept for 2023/24, with a value of 2%.
Approximately 3605 people were accessing long-term Adult Social Care support, and approximately 575 people were accessing short-term Adult Social Care support in the 2022/23 period. 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.