Sunderland City Council: local authority assessment

Published: 9 May 2025 Page last updated: 9 May 2025

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Assessment published: 9 May 2025

About Sunderland City Council

Demographics

Sunderland is a metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, North East of England. It covers 53 square miles with 99% of the population living in urban areas. Sunderland has a population of 274,211 based on Census 2021.

Census data showed that 59.37% of the population are working age adults, and 20.77% are aged 65 and over. Children make up 19.8% of the population. The population of over 65s and over 80s is expected to rise to 24% and 6.5% respectively by 2031.

Sunderland has an Index Multiple Deprivation score of 9, with 10 being the most deprived and is the 27th most deprived local authority out of 153 local authorities (with the 1st being the most deprived). Twenty-two percent of the local population live in the most deprived areas in Sunderland. The population of Sunderland is predominantly white with just over 5% identifying themselves as an ethnicity other than white.

Sunderland borders the local authority areas of, County Durham, Gateshead, and South Tyneside. The local authority sits within the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS) and is one of 14 local authorities within the ICS patch. The city has 25 wards, each with 3 councillors, across 5 Localities with a Labour controlled council.

Financial facts

  • The local authority estimated that in 2023/2024, its total budget would be £447,128,000. Its actual spend for that year was £454,507,000, which was £7,379,000 more than estimated.
  • The local authority estimated that it would spend £124,889,000 of its total budget on adult social care in 2023/24. Its actual spend was £129,833,000, which is £4,944,000 more than estimated.
  • In 2023/2024, 28.57% 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 4775 people were accessing long-term adult social care support, and approximately 630 people were accessing short-term adult social care support in 2022/23. 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.