North Somerset Council: local authority assessment

How we assess local authorities

Assessment published: 16 May 2025

About North Somerset Council  

Demographics  

North Somerset Council is a unitary authority which sits between the county of Somerset and Bristol and North East Somerset. North Somerset local authority has an estimated population of 221,146 residents and is known for its outstanding natural landscapes, including part of the Mendip Hills, an area of outstanding natural beauty. The area features four key towns: Clevedon, Nailsea, Portishead, and Weston-Super-Mare, with Weston-Super-Mare being the largest by population. The surrounding rural areas are characterised by a network of villages and hamlets.

In North Somerset, the population size has increased by 7.0%, from around 202,600 in 2011 to 216,700 in 2021. This is higher than the overall increase for England (6.6%). The wider trend shows that the population is ageing, as the number of residents who are 65 years and over has increased by 22.0% since 2011.  

Less than 5% of North Somerset's population is ethnically diverse, with the majority being white (95.71%) and smaller communities identifying as mixed or multiple ethnicities (1.68%), Asian or Asian British (1.53%), black, black British, Caribbean, or African (0.53%), and other ethnicities (0.56%).

The local authority footprint has an Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) score of 2, which means it is among the 20% lowest deprived areas nationally. A local authority with a decile of 1 means it is in the least deprived group (lowest 10%), while a local authority with a decile of 10 means it is in the most deprived group (highest 10%).  

North Somerset Council is a partner in the Integrated Care System (ICS) with Bristol and South Gloucestershire unitary authorities. The ICS is made up of an Integrated Care Partnership, an Integrated Care Board and 6 locality Partnerships.  

The local authority administration for North Somerset Council operates under a political partnership formed between the Liberal Democrats, Independent and Labour party.  

Financial facts

The financial facts for North Somerset Council are:

• The local authority estimated that in 2023-2024, its total budget would be £276,623,000. Its actual spend for that year was £295,909,000, which was £19,286,000 more than estimated.
• The local authority estimated that it would spend £96,804,000 of its total budget on adult social care in 2023/24. Its actual spend for that year was £100,137,000, which was £3,333,000 more than estimated. In 2023/24, 34% 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 adult social care precept varies from local authority to local authority.
• Around 380 people were accessing long-term adult social care support, and about 3195 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.