Bracknell Forest Council: local authority assessment

How we assess local authorities

Assessment published: 16 August 2024

About Bracknell Forest Council

Demographics

Bracknell Forest council in Berkshire is the second smallest unitary authority in England. It comprises the towns of Bracknell and Sandhurst and other smaller urban areas, as well as areas of forest. It had a population of 124,600 in 2021.

Bracknell Forest is within the 10% least deprived local authorities in England. More than a third of the Borough’s neighbourhoods are in the 10% least deprived nationally. While none of Bracknell Forest’s neighbourhoods are in the 20% most deprived areas in England, there are areas of higher deprivation, particularly within Bracknell town centre. In June 2023, 2,302 Bracknell Forest households were identified to be in fuel poverty.

The gender profile of Bracknell is approximately 51% females and 49% males. The working age population for Bracknell is 66.4% which is slightly above the England average of 64%. Those aged 65 years and over make up 15% of the total population as compared to an average in England of 18.61%. The population is growing, and the proportion of the population who are over 65 is predicted to grow to 22.5% by 2043 78.6% of the population was White British and 7.2% other White, 6.5% Asian (Indian subcontinent), 2.4% Black African, Caribbean, or Other Black, 0.2% Gypsy Roma, Traveller (GRT). This is similar in broad ethnic terms to the rest of the South East. Bracknell Forest is part of the Frimley Health and Care Integrated Care System. The local authority has a Borough-based partnership with other key stakeholders in the Bracknell Forest locality. Bracknell Forest had a conservative administration from its creation as a unitary authority in 1998, until 2023 when it changed to a Labour majority and leadership/administration.

Financial facts

The Financial facts for Bracknell Forest are:

• The local authority estimated in 2022/23, its total budget would be £246,526,000 Its actual spend for that year was £214,864,000, which was £31,662,000 less than estimated.
• The local authority estimated it would spend £41,941,000 of its total budget on adult social care in 2022/23. Its actual spend was £ 43,866,000, which is
• £1,925,000 more than estimated.
• In 2022/2023, 20% 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 1305 people were accessing long-term adult social care support, and approximately 395 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.