Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead: local authority assessment

Published: 8 November 2024 Page last updated: 8 November 2024

Assessment published: 8 November 2024

About Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead

Demographics

The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead is a Unitary Authority in the southeast of England. The population of 155,000 is spread across the Borough which includes the towns of Windsor, Maidenhead, Ascot, and Eton. On the Index of Multiple Deprivation decile, the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead was ranked 152nd out of 153 local authorities in England, making it the second least deprived local authority in the country. There is a 6.1 year gap in life expectancy for boys born in the least and most deprived areas of the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead.

The population is predominantly people of working age but there is a growing aging population. Between the 2011 and 2021 census, the number of people aged 50 to 64 years rose by 2.3% and there were gradual increases of between 0% and 2% of people aged 65 to 74, 75 to 84 and 85+. The growth in the population of people aged 50 to 64 years means the local authority can expect their population of adults aged over 65 to increase over the next 10 years. Overall, the population in the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead grew by 6% over the decade.

The local authority sits within the Frimley Integrated Care System (ICS), which covers 5 local authority areas. There are no acute hospitals within the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead, but the local authority works with Frimley Integrated Care Board, Frimley Health Foundation Trust, the Royal Berkshire Hospital and Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust in areas such as hospital discharge and prevention.

The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead is a local authority in transition. In May 2023 the makeup of the council changed from a Conservative majority to a Liberal Democrat majority. The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead, with Wokingham Council, jointly owned a local authority trading company which carried out Care Act 2014 functions on behalf of the local authority since 2017. At the time of our assessment, the local authority was in the process of bringing all the functions that delivered on their Care Act 2014 duties back in-house as part of a wider transformation.

Financial facts

The Financial facts for the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead are:

The local authority estimated that in 2022/23, its total budget would be £180,496,000. Its actual spend for that year was £201,166,000 which was £20,670,000 more than estimated.
The local authority estimated that it would spend £41,596.000 of its total budget on adult social care in 2022/23 Its actual spend was £48,862,000, which is £7,266,000 more than estimated.
In 2022/2023, 24% 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 1725 people were accessing long-term adult social care support, and approximately 340 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.