⌘ K
Overview

South East · Non-metropolitan district

Elmbridge

2026/27 view

Elmbridge · ONS E07000207

Financial position as at 2026/27 Q1 quarter end

View sources
COUNCIL AT A GLANCE

Who runs the council and its current position

64/ 100
COUNCILMETRICS FINANCIAL HEALTH SCORE

Mixed

Compared only with non-metropolitan district councils using central government returns.

164 councils in peer group Rank 55 of 164 High confidence 2024/25 outturn · 2026/27 Q1 debt How this is calculated
Reserves cover54
Debt burden87
Liquidity83
Debt direction13
YEAR-ON-YEAR CONTEXT Change from the previous reported period Each measure uses its own official reporting timetable.
Net debt £-63.00m 2026/27 Q1 vs 2025/26 Q4
+£6.46m 9.3%
Service expenditure £29.74m 2024/25 vs 2023/24
+£956.0k 3.3%
Unallocated reserves £4.00m 2024/25 vs 2023/24
£0.00 0.0%
FIVE-YEAR FINANCIAL TREND

How this council's finances have changed

Official annual outturn. Each line uses its own scale so direction remains easy to read.

Through 2024/25
Service expenditure £29.74m
3.4%
2020/21: £28.77m 2021/22: £25.77m 2022/23: £25.08m 2023/24: £28.78m 2024/25: £29.74m
Net revenue expenditure £16.90m
21.9%
2020/21: £21.64m 2021/22: £21.26m 2022/23: £12.27m 2023/24: £16.00m 2024/25: £16.90m
Council Tax requirement £16.73m
12.9%
2020/21: £14.81m 2021/22: £14.97m 2022/23: £15.55m 2023/24: £16.11m 2024/25: £16.73m
Unallocated reserves £4.00m
0.0%
2020/21: £4.00m 2021/22: £4.00m 2022/23: £4.00m 2023/24: £4.00m 2024/25: £4.00m
COUNCILMETRICS COMMUNITY SCORE Share your experience 0 of 25 responses collected before results are published
Score this council
Political controlNot yet recordedAdministration not identified
Council leaderNot identifiedParty not identified
Resident population141,9262024 estimate
Latest net debt£-63.00m2026/27 Q1 quarter end
WASTE & RECYCLING

What happens to household waste?

Official Defra measures for Elmbridge, with like-for-like comparison against collection authorities.

2024/25
53.7%recycled
Household recycling rate

Recycling rate fell

0.5 percentage points vs 2023/24
26 of 196 peer authorities Peer median 42.1%
Residual waste395.3 kgper household−12.2 kg year on year
Waste collected361.8 kgper resident−16.0 kg year on year
Household waste51,373tonnes collected27,603 tonnes recycled
WHERE HOUSEHOLD WASTE WENT

Recycled versus residual waste

27,603 t recycled, composted or reused 23,769 t not recycled
RECYCLING RATE TREND

10 years of official data

53.7%
2015/16: 52.9%2016/17: 55.0%2017/18: 52.9%2018/19: 51.0%2019/20: 52.6%2020/21: 54.5%2021/22: 51.3%2022/23: 53.5%2023/24: 54.2%2024/25: 53.7%
2015/162024/25
Official Defra waste statistics · Annual local-authority return · Figures may not sum exactly because of published rounding.View source
EDUCATION

Schools and education

Schools, pupil numbers and latest education outcomes across Elmbridge.

2024/25
SCHOOLS & PUPILS

Education at a glance

Explore schools
56 Open schools
23,537 Pupils
26,919 School places
87.4% Capacity utilisation
ATTAINMENT & OUTCOMES

Key Stage 4

Published outcomes for pupils living in Elmbridge.

Attainment 8
55.8
South East 47.0
England 46.1
9.7 points above England
English & maths grade 5+
64.7%
South East 47.9%
England 45.4%
19.3 percentage points above England
EBacc entry
56.3%
South East 41.6%
England 40.5%
15.8 percentage points above England
PROGRESS

Progress 8

0.32

Latest published Progress 8 score, 2023/24.

A score of 0 represents the national average.
TREND

Attainment 8 over time

54.4 18/19
57.4 19/20
58.9 20/21
56.4 21/22
54.6 22/23
53.5 23/24
55.8 24/25
Education context

Elmbridge's latest Key Stage 4 outcomes are above both South East and England benchmarks across all three headline measures.

Department for Education · Key Stage 4 performance · Pupil residency
HOUSING & AFFORDABILITY

Housing costs and local earnings

House prices and affordability for Elmbridge, based on the earnings of local residents.

2025
Median house price
£650,000
+ 8.7% over five years
Median resident earnings
£51,924
+ 24.8% over five years
House price to earnings
12.52×
Improved from 14.37× five years ago
PRIVATE RENTING

Average monthly private rent

Typical private rental cost across all property types in Elmbridge.

£1,867 / month
+ 1.1% in the last year
July 2026
Elmbridge
£1,867
+ 1.1%
South East
£1,419
+ 2.9%
England
£1,451
+ 3.8%
Compared with South East £448 more per month
Compared with England £416 more per month
HOW DOES IT COMPARE?

Housing affordability

Median house price as a multiple of median resident earnings. Lower is more affordable.

Elmbridge
12.52×
South East
9.20×
England
7.64×
Compared with South East Less affordable
Compared with England Less affordable
Source: Office for National Statistics · Housing affordability in England and Wales · House prices year ending September · Residence-based earnings
PLANNING & HOUSING DELIVERY

Is development moving through the system?

Quarterly planning decisions and the government's latest three-year Housing Delivery Test.

2026 Q1
Applications received422this quarter+70 vs 2025 Q4
Applications decided351this quarter+58 vs 2025 Q4
Outstanding applications—at quarter end
76.6%approved
Overall approval rate269 granted82 refused−3.9 pts vs previous quarter
DECISION TIMELINESS

Decisions made within time

85.5%
Rank 237 of 294 reporting authoritiesNational median 92.5%

3.3 percentage points lower than 2025 Q4

APPLICATION MIX

Performance by development type

TypeDecisionsApprovedIn time Major683.3%100.0% Minor7963.3%82.3% Other26680.5%86.1%
QUARTERLY FLOW

Applications through the system

Last 8 quarters
2024 Q2: 4192024 Q3: 3652024 Q4: 3202025 Q1: 3802025 Q2: 4122025 Q3: 3552025 Q4: 3522026 Q1: 4222024 Q2: 4142024 Q3: 4472024 Q4: 3122025 Q1: 3022025 Q2: 3762025 Q3: 3382025 Q4: 2932026 Q1: 351
2024 Q2
Received Decided Outstanding
2026 Q1
HOUSING DELIVERY TEST

Homes delivered against requirement

59%
Required1,950homes over three years
Delivered1,158homes over three years
100% requirement
Presumption in favourHDT 2025 government assessment
CRIME & POLICING

Police-recorded crime

Latest police-recorded crime figures for Elmbridge, excluding fraud.

Year ending Mar 2026
Recorded offences 7,310 Total police-recorded crime excluding fraud
Crime rate 51.5 offences per 1,000 residents
Annual change + 1.7% compared with the previous year
HOW DOES IT COMPARE?

Recorded crime rate

Offences per 1,000 residents
Elmbridge Your council
51.5 + 1.7%
South East Region
70.5 − 2.7%
England National
83.4 − 1.5%

Elmbridge has a recorded crime rate 26.9% below South East. It is 38.3% below the England rate.

OFFENCE PROFILE

Recorded crime by category

Surrey
Violence 2,753
19.4 per 1,000 + 5.5%
Theft 2,147
15.1 per 1,000 − 5.1%
Public order 768
5.4 per 1,000 − 2.4%
Criminal damage 634
4.5 per 1,000 + 1.9%
Shoplifting 515
3.6 per 1,000 − 1.2%
Vehicle offences 578
4.1 per 1,000 − 1.9%
Burglary 325
2.3 per 1,000 − 15.6%
Drug offences 376
2.6 per 1,000 + 19.0%
ONS / Home Office · Police-recorded crime · Community Safety Partnership data
SCHOOLS & OFSTED

Schools and inspection outcomes

Open schools, pupil numbers and the latest published Ofsted inspection position for Elmbridge.

56 schools
Open schools 56
Pupils 23,537
School places 26,919
Capacity used 87.4%
Primary 28 schools
10,148 pupils
Other / specialist 20 schools
6,636 pupils
Secondary 5 schools
5,770 pupils
16+ provision 2 schools
0 pupils
All-through 1 school
983 pupils
CURRENT POSITION

Inspection coverage

Latest Ofsted management information
Renewed framework 5
8.9% of open schools
Previous full framework 16
28.6% of open schools
Ungraded inspection 15
26.8% of open schools
No Ofsted record 19
33.9% of open schools
No published outcome 1
1.8% of open schools
RENEWED FRAMEWORK

Latest inspection standards

5 schools assessed
Achievement 5 assessed
Strong standard 3
Expected standard 2
Attendance & behaviour 5 assessed
Strong standard 4
Expected standard 1
Curriculum & teaching 5 assessed
Expected standard 3
Strong standard 2
Inclusion 5 assessed
Strong standard 5
Leadership & governance 5 assessed
Strong standard 3
Expected standard 2
Personal development 5 assessed
Strong standard 4
Expected standard 1
Safeguarding 5 assessed
Met 5
PREVIOUS FRAMEWORK

Legacy Ofsted ratings

These ratings apply only to schools whose latest full inspection remains under the previous Ofsted framework. Schools assessed under the renewed framework are shown separately above.

Outstanding 3
Good 7
Not judged 6
LOCAL SCHOOLS

School directory

View all schools
School Phase Pupils Capacity Latest Ofsted position
Ashley Church of England Primary School URN 141294 · KT12 1HX Primary 574 630 Good
Bell Farm Primary School URN 125058 · KT12 5NB Primary 649 693 Ungraded inspection
Burhill Primary School URN 125055 · KT12 4HQ Primary 545 630 Ungraded inspection
Cardinal Newman Catholic Primary School URN 143364 · KT12 4QT Primary 412 420 Ungraded inspection
Chandlers Field Primary Academy URN 152068 · KT8 2LX Primary 298 420 Not judged
Claygate Primary School URN 125108 · KT10 0NB Primary 362 420 Good
Cleves School URN 136338 · KT13 9TS Primary 717 720 Outstanding
Cranmere Primary School URN 131125 · KT10 8BE Primary 306 502 Not judged
School information: Get Information about Schools (GIAS). Inspection information: Ofsted monthly management information. Inspection frameworks differ over time, so renewed-framework standards and previous overall effectiveness grades are shown separately.
Published expenditure£0.00No spending file imported
Revenue budget£0.00Not imported
Reported overspend£0.00Not imported outturn
Contracts00 active
Identified suppliers0Normalised entities
PEOPLE AND PLACE

Population snapshot

View full People profile
Population 141,926 2024
South East region 9,642,942
Elmbridge represents 1.47% of the region's population
Five-year population change
+4,828 residents ↑ 3.5%
2019: 137,098 residents2020: 138,098 residents2021: 139,453 residents2022: 140,434 residents2023: 141,193 residents2024: 141,926 residents
Elmbridge +3.5%
South East +4.9%
England +4.3%
Growth context

Elmbridge's population grew over five years. Its change was 1.4 percentage points below the South East and 0.7 percentage points below England.

2019–2024 ONS mid-year estimates
Population estimates and labour-market measures from ONS/Nomis.Official profile
BENEFITS & FINANCIAL PRESSURE

How is Universal Credit changing in Elmbridge?

People receiving Universal Credit and how the caseload has changed over the latest 24 months.

DWP · May 2026
PEOPLE ON UNIVERSAL CREDIT 8,725 6.1% of the 2024 resident population May 2026
CHANGE IN 12 MONTHS +9.2% +737 people
LATEST MONTHLY CHANGE +0.7% +62 since April 2026
LOCAL CONTEXT

Universal Credit recipients as a share of population

Comparison using 2024 resident population estimates.

May 2026
Elmbridge LOCAL AUTHORITY
6.1%
South East REGION
9.5%
England COUNTRY
12.3%
Percentage of the resident population receiving Universal Credit. This is not an unemployment rate.
24-MONTH TREND

People receiving Universal Credit

Monthly caseload recorded on the DWP Universal Credit system.

June 2024 May 2026
8,725 7,770 6,815
June 2024 May 2026
What does this measure?

Universal Credit provides financial support to people who are on a low income or out of work. These figures count people receiving Universal Credit, not households and not the number of people who are unemployed.

DWP Stat-Xplore
HOUSING LICENSING

HMOs and property licensing

Coverage not assessedNational HMO explorer
Licensed HMOsAwaiting registerOnly licensed properties will be counted
Register accessNot assessedNo register record available
Identifiable HMO expenditureNot identifiableNot separately described in published transactions
Inspection and enforcement dataAwaiting dataNo activity source imported yet
Coverage note

A licensed HMO register has not yet been located for this council. CouncilMetrics does not estimate HMO expenditure from broad housing or social-care descriptions.

FINANCE

How this council raises and spends money

Comparable official outturn for 2024/25, reported to central government.

MHCLG official outturn
Total service expenditure
£29.74m 2024/25 actual outturn
Net revenue expenditure
£16.90m 2024/25 actual outturn
Council Tax requirement
£16.73m 2024/25 actual outturn
Unallocated reserves
£4.00m 2024/25 actual outturn
Service expenditure per resident £210
Median for councils of the same type £166 26.6% above peer median
2024/25 SERVICE SPENDING

Where the money was spent

Net current expenditure after service income.

Actual outturn
Environmental and regulatory services Gross £11.81m · Income £3.72m
£8.09m
Housing Gross £10.19m · Income £3.32m
£6.87m
Central services Gross £26.71m · Income £20.39m
£6.32m
Adult social care Gross £5.18m · Income £1.27m
£3.91m
Culture and related services Gross £3.92m · Income £626.0k
£3.30m
Planning and development Gross £4.69m · Income £1.55m
£3.14m
Other services Gross £2.06m · Income £1.57m
£492.0k
Highways and transport Gross £2.39m · Income £4.78m
£-2.38m
CORE FUNDING

Selected funding sources

Major financing lines in the central return.

Council Tax requirement£16.73m
Retained business rates£4.46m
Revenue Support Grant£142.0k
UNALLOCATED RESERVES

Financial buffer

General unallocated reserves during the year.

Opening £4.00m
Closing £4.00m
£0.00 increase during 2024/25
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government · Revenue Outturn RS and RSX · values shown in pounds Official dataset
BORROWING AND INVESTMENTS

Balance-sheet position

A point-in-time view of debt and liquid investments at the end of 2026/27 Q1.

MHCLG quarterly return
Outstanding borrowing
£41.26m 2026/27 Q1 quarter end
Investments and cash
£104.26m 2026/27 Q1 quarter end
Net debt
£-63.00m 2026/27 Q1 quarter end
Net debt per resident
£-444 Per resident using latest population
This council's net debt per resident £-444
Median for non-metropolitan district councils £95 566.2% lower than the peer median
QUARTERLY TREND

Borrowing, investments and net debt

2020/21 Q1 to 2026/27 Q1.

£6.46m quarterly increase
2020/21 Q12021/22 Q32023/24 Q12024/25 Q32026/27 Q1
Latest quarterly movement +£6.46m +9.3%
Change across the series −£36.48m Net debt since 2020/21 Q1
What changed?

Net debt increased during the quarter, with higher outstanding borrowing contributing to the movement.

BORROWING COMPOSITION

Where the borrowing sits

PWLB, other longer-term borrowing and short-term borrowing.

2026/27 Q1
Public Works Loan Board£39.76m
Short-term borrowing£1.50m
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment live table · 2026/27 Q1 · values shown in pounds Official dataset
COUNCIL TAX & COLLECTION

How much council tax remains unpaid?

Council tax collection, outstanding arrears and write-offs reported to central government.

MHCLG 2025/26
Outstanding arrears
£7.66m Total outstanding at financial year-end
Collection rate
98.22% Collected against the in-year debit
Council tax written off
£698,000 Written off during the financial year
Council tax collected
£163.50m Receipts relating to the financial year
FIVE-YEAR TREND

How has unpaid council tax changed?

Outstanding arrears at each financial year-end.

2021/22–2025/26
OUTSTANDING ARREARS 2025/26
£7.66m
CHANGE SINCE 2021/22
+ 63.1%
+ £2.96m
ENGLAND CHANGE
+49.5%
£4.70m 2021/22 £5.25m 2022/23 £6.25m 2023/24 £7.53m 2024/25 £7.66m 2025/26

Figures represent total outstanding council tax balances, including arrears carried forward from earlier years. Changes in council boundaries can affect historical comparisons.

OUTSTANDING ARREARS

Where does the unpaid council tax come from?

Breakdown of outstanding balances at the end of 2025/26.

£7.66m outstanding
CURRENT FINANCIAL YEAR £2.99m

39.1% of outstanding arrears

EARLIER FINANCIAL YEARS £4.66m

60.9% of outstanding arrears

Current-year arrears Earlier-years arrears

Earlier-years arrears represent unpaid council tax carried forward from previous financial years. These figures do not identify individual households or establish whether balances are recoverable.

COLLECTION PERFORMANCE

How does this council compare?

England 2025/26
In-year collection rate 98.22%

England average: 95.60%  ·  2.62 percentage points above England

Outstanding arrears include unpaid balances from earlier financial years and are not the same as council tax uncollected during 2025/26. Monetary values are rounded for display. Official MHCLG source

SPENDING

Published directorate expenditure

Explore all 0 records
CONTRACTS

Largest contracts

Explore all 0 contracts
ContractSupplierStatusEnd dateOriginal value
SUPPLIERS

Largest supplier exposure

Dated transactions
SupplierPaymentsPublished expenditure
PROVENANCE

Source documents

39 imported
DocumentDatasetPeriodStatusOfficial source
Housing Delivery Test 2025 results — Elmbridgemhclg housing delivery testHDT 2025–HDT 2025importedOpen
MHCLG district planning application decisions (PS2) — Elmbridgemhclg planning ps21979 Q2–2026 Q1importedOpen
MHCLG district planning application statistics (PS1) — Elmbridgemhclg planning ps11996 Q2–2026 Q1importedOpen
Defra local authority waste statistics — Elmbridge Borough Councildefra local authority waste2010/11–2024/25importedOpen
MHCLG Revenue Outturn Service Summary 2023/24 — Elmbridgemhclg revenue outturn rsx2023/24importedOpen
MHCLG Revenue Outturn Summary 2023/24 — Elmbridgemhclg revenue outturn rs2023/24importedOpen
MHCLG Revenue Outturn Service Summary 2022/23 — Elmbridgemhclg revenue outturn rsx2022/23importedOpen
MHCLG Revenue Outturn Summary 2022/23 — Elmbridgemhclg revenue outturn rs2022/23importedOpen
MHCLG Revenue Outturn Service Summary 2021/22 — Elmbridgemhclg revenue outturn rsx2021/22importedOpen
MHCLG Revenue Outturn Summary 2021/22 — Elmbridgemhclg revenue outturn rs2021/22importedOpen
MHCLG Revenue Outturn Service Summary 2020/21 — Elmbridgemhclg revenue outturn rsx2020/21importedOpen
MHCLG Revenue Outturn Summary 2020/21 — Elmbridgemhclg revenue outturn rs2020/21importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2025/26 Q4 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2025/26 Q4importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2025/26 Q3 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2025/26 Q3importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2025/26 Q2 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2025/26 Q2importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2025/26 Q1 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2025/26 Q1importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2024/25 Q4 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2024/25 Q4importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2024/25 Q3 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2024/25 Q3importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2024/25 Q2 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2024/25 Q2importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2024/25 Q1 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2024/25 Q1importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2023/24 Q4 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2023/24 Q4importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2023/24 Q3 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2023/24 Q3importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2023/24 Q2 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2023/24 Q2importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2023/24 Q1 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2023/24 Q1importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2022/23 Q4 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2022/23 Q4importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2022/23 Q3 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2022/23 Q3importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2022/23 Q2 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2022/23 Q2importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2022/23 Q1 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2022/23 Q1importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2021/22 Q4 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2021/22 Q4importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2021/22 Q3 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2021/22 Q3importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2021/22 Q2 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2021/22 Q2importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2021/22 Q1 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2021/22 Q1importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2020/21 Q4 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2020/21 Q4importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2020/21 Q3 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2020/21 Q3importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2020/21 Q2 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2020/21 Q2importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2020/21 Q1 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2020/21 Q1importedOpen
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2026/27 Q1 — Elmbridgemhclg borrowing investment2026/27 Q1importedOpen
MHCLG Revenue Outturn Service Summary 2024/25 — Elmbridgemhclg revenue outturn rsx2024/25importedOpen
MHCLG Revenue Outturn Summary 2024/25 — Elmbridgemhclg revenue outturn rs2024/25importedOpen
How to read these figures and the Financial Health Score

Budget summaries and financial positions retain the reporting year and assurance status of their original source. Draft or unaudited values are labelled separately from audited outturn figures. The Financial Health Score uses reserves cover, net debt per resident, liquidity and quarterly debt direction from central MHCLG returns. Each component is converted to a percentile among councils of the same authority type; available components are weighted 35%, 30%, 20% and 15% respectively. A score is published only when at least three components covering 65% of the weighting are available. It is a comparative financial indicator, not an assessment of service quality or political performance.