City of York Council: local authority assessment

How we assess local authorities

Assessment published: 5 December 2025

About City of York Council

Demographics

City of York Council is a unitary authority and is recognised as a city with heritage and culture that attracts international tourism. It has two universities and is the most densely populated (7.7 people per hectare) area in North Yorkshire. York is ranked 145 out of 153 local authorities (with 1 being the most deprived and 153 being the least deprived). The Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) score is 1 (10 is the most deprived). At ward level, there is greater variation with Copmanthorpe the least deprived ward, and Westfield the most deprived.

The city of York has a population of 206,780 with 27,021 being full-time students and 9,854 people aged over 80. It has a predominantly white population 92.77%, which was significantly above the England average of 81.05%. People who did not identify as ‘white’ were in the minority with 1.84% of people identifying as ‘Mixed or multiple’, 3.76% as Asian or Asian British, 0.96% as ‘other’ and 0.65% identify as Black, Black British, Caribbean or African. It has a higher percentage of adults in ages 18-64 (63.98%) and 65+ (19.28%) than the England averages. Proportionally, it has slightly fewer children than the England average (Office of National Statistics ONS, 2023).

Boys born in York can expect to have an average life expectancy of 79.8 years, which is 0.7 years longer than nationally. Girls born in York can expect to have an average life expectancy of 83.6 years, which is 0.5 years longer than nationally. In York, life expectancy can differ a lot between the most deprived and the least deprived wards. In 2020 and 2021, men living in York’s most deprived wards lived for 8.2 fewer years than their counterparts in the least deprived wards. For women, this gap was 4.7 years.

Across the whole population, 17% of people were ‘disabled under the equality act’, this included 6% of people who said their day-to-day activities were significantly limited.

York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority was launched from 1 February 2024. A combined authority is where a group of councils work together across a larger area. The City of York Council worked at a local level to deliver services for local people. The combined authority delivered on a wider scale across both areas, working in partnership with the two unitary authorities to deliver the devolved investment. The City of York Council was part of Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care System.

The political make-up of the council at the time of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) assessment was 24 councillors representing the Labour party, 19 councillors representing the Liberal Democrat party, 3 councillors representing the Conservative party and 1 independent councillor.

Financial facts

The Financial facts for City of York Council are:

• The local authority estimated that in 2023/24, its total budget would be £244,497,000.00. Its actual spend for that year was £269,928,000.00, which was £25,431,000.00 more than estimated.
• The local authority estimated that it would spend £66,513,000.00 of its total budget on adult social care in 2023/24. Its actual spend was £75,338,000.00, which was £8,825,000.00 more than estimated.
• In 2023/24, 27.91% 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 2560 people were accessing long-term adult social care support, and approximately 605 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 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.