London Borough of Camden: local authority assessment
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Assessment published: 28 February 2025
About London Borough of Camden
Demographics
Camden is an inner north London borough with a population of 210,100. The population had decreased by 4.6% since 2011, with those aged over 65 increasing by 3.4% and those aged 18-64 decreasing by 4.7%. It is one of the country’s most unequal boroughs, with highly affluent areas and significant areas of deprivation. The gap in healthy life expectancy between the most and least deprived parts of the local authority is very high, at 20 years. It has an Index of Multiple Deprivation score of 5. Camden is within North Central London (NCL) NHS Integrated Care Board area, which spans 5 local authorities.
The population of Camden is more ethnically diverse than the England average (19%) with 40% of residents from a Black, Asian or other ethnic group, this has increased from 34% in 2011. There are more than 85 different languages spoken and 17% of people identified as LGBTQ+ in comparison to the national average of 14%. There are fewer disabled people (15.2%) as a share of the population than the national average (17.3%). 35% people were economically inactive, which was higher than the London average (30%).
Camden is a Labour-led unitary council with 55 elected councillors. There are 43 Labour councillors, 5 Liberal Democrat, 3 Conservative, 1 Green and 3 vacant councillor positions.
Financial facts
- The local authority estimated that in 2023/24, its total budget would be £589,322,000. Its actual spend for that year was £608,572,000, which was £19,250,000 more than estimated.
- The local authority estimated that it would spend £122,330,000 of its total budget on adult social care in 2023/24 Its actual spend was £113,990,000, which is £8,340,000 less than estimated.
- In 2023/2024, 18.73% 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 1425 people were accessing long-term adult social care support, and approximately 3420 people were accessing short-term adult social care support in 2023/2024. 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.