Hartlepool Borough Council: local authority assessment

Published: 14 May 2025 Page last updated: 14 May 2025

Assessment published: 14 May 2025

About Hartlepool Borough Council

Demographics

Hartlepool Borough Council is a unitary authority in a coastal town in the north east of England with an industrial heritage. The borough is predominantly urban with a small number of seaside and rural wards. Hartlepool has a population of approximately 95,366. There has been an increase in the population of 3.62% since the last census in 2011.

The population is mostly white British, making up 96.46%. People from ethnic minority groups comprise 2.94% of the Hartlepool population, with people of Asian, Asian British ethnicity making up 1.73% of the Hartlepool population.

The population has an Index of Multiple Deprivation score of 9 (1 is the least deprived, 10 is the most deprived) meaning it is one of the most deprived local authorities in England.

Hartlepool Borough’s age profile for residents aged 65 years and over increased between the 2021 and 2011 census by 17.3%; working age people (15 to 64) has decreased by 3.7% and there has been a decrease in children aged under 15 years in the same period.

Hartlepool Borough Council (HBC) is a small Labour led unitary authority with 36 Councillors representing 12 wards.

Hartlepool is part of the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board together with 13 other local authorities. Hartlepool is part of the Tees Valley Combined Authority along with four other local authorities.

Financial facts

The financial facts for Hartlepool Borough Council are:

The local authority estimated that in 2023/24, its total budget would be £177,706,000. Its actual spend for that year was £186,597,000, which was £8,891,000 more than estimated.

The local authority estimated that it would spend £42,452,000 of its total budget on adult social care in 2023/24 Its actual spend was £42,048,000 which was £404,000 less than estimated.

In 2023/2024, 22.53% 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 2205 people were accessing long-term adult social care support, and approximately 1095 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.