Suffolk County Council assessment

How we assess local authorities

Assessment start date: 2 June 2023

Assessment published: 17 November 2023

Assessing how local authorities meet their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act (2014) is a new responsibility for CQC. We have been piloting our approach to these new assessments in 5 local authorities who volunteered to participate. Our assessment of Suffolk County Council was part of the pilots. We will be incorporating any learning from the pilots and evaluation into our formal assessment approach.

About Suffolk County Council

Demographics

Suffolk spans both rural, coastal and urban areas, with the population comprising 60.9% urban and 39.1% rural. The local authority teams are aligned to 3 areas within the county, Ipswich and East Suffolk, West Suffolk, and Waveney. There are 2 two integrated care systems, Suffolk and North-East Essex, and Norfolk and Waveney. Suffolk consists of 5 District and Borough Councils: East Suffolk, West Suffolk, Babergh, Mid Suffolk and Ipswich. These range from high income areas to high deprivation areas. In the 2019 indices of multiple deprivation, Suffolk was ranked 53 out of 151 authorities. Twenty-two small areas in Suffolk were in the 10% most deprived areas of England.

The total population is 760,688,  with 50.7% women and 49.3% men. At the time of the 2021 census, 87.3% of Suffolk’s population were White English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British. The population of Suffolk is growing older. Currently 1 in 5 people are aged over 65 and by 2040 this will be 1 in 3 people.

Suffolk County Council is a Conservative led Council.

Financial facts

• The local authority estimated that in 2022/23, its total budget would be £875,000,000. Its actual spend for that year was £932,879,000, which was £57,879,000 more than estimated.
• The local authority estimated that it would spend £297,756,000 of its total budget on adult social care in 2022/23 Its actual spend was £313,467,000, which is £15,671,000 more than estimated.
• In 2022/2023, 34% of the budget was spent on adult social care.
• The local authority has raised the full adult social care precept for 2022/23 and 2023/24. Please note that the amount raised through adult social care precept varies from local authority to local authority.
• Approximately 12,220 people were accessing long-term adult social care support, and approximately 8,540 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.