East of England · Non-metropolitan district

Norwich

2026/27 view

Norwich · ONS E07000148

Financial position as at 2026/27 Q1 quarter end

View sources

COUNCIL AT A GLANCE

Who runs the council and its current position

46/ 100

COUNCILMETRICS FINANCIAL HEALTH SCORE

Under pressure

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

164 councils in peer group Rank 96 of 164 High confidence 2024/25 outturn · 2026/27 Q1 debt How this is calculated

Reserves cover67

Debt burden31

Liquidity49

Debt direction21

YEAR-ON-YEAR CONTEXT Change from the previous reported period Each measure uses its own official reporting timetable.

Net debt £79.04m 2026/27 Q1 vs 2025/26 Q4

+£4.19m 5.6%

Service expenditure £30.23m 2024/25 vs 2023/24

−£1.82m 5.7%

Unallocated reserves £8.25m 2024/25 vs 2023/24

+£8.25m

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 £30.23m

0.2%

Net revenue expenditure £24.01m

0.2%

Council Tax requirement £11.52m

15.6%

Unallocated reserves £8.25m

17.4%

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 population147,1822024 estimate

Latest net debt£79.04m2026/27 Q1 quarter end

WASTE & RECYCLING

What happens to household waste?

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

2024/25

38.1%recycled

Household recycling rate

Recycling rate fell

0.5 percentage points vs 2023/24

128 of 196 peer authorities Peer median 42.1%

Residual waste393.6 kgper household+3.7 kg year on year

Waste collected298.7 kgper resident−2.8 kg year on year

Household waste44,018tonnes collected16,774 tonnes recycled

WHERE HOUSEHOLD WASTE WENT

Recycled versus residual waste

16,774 t recycled, composted or reused 27,244 t not recycled

RECYCLING RATE TREND

10 years of official data

38.1%

2015/162024/25

EDUCATION

Schools and education

Schools, pupil numbers and latest education outcomes across Norwich.

2024/25

SCHOOLS & PUPILS

Education at a glance

Explore schools

63 Open schools

20,615 Pupils

23,685 School places

87.0% Capacity utilisation

ATTAINMENT & OUTCOMES

Key Stage 4

Published outcomes for pupils living in Norwich.

Attainment 8

43.7

East of England 46.2

England 46.1

2.4 points below England

English & maths grade 5+

42.9%

East of England 45.9%

England 45.4%

2.5 percentage points below England

EBacc entry

33.7%

East of England 40.0%

England 40.5%

6.8 percentage points below England

PROGRESS

Progress 8

-0.20

Latest published Progress 8 score, 2023/24.

A score of 0 represents the national average.

TREND

Attainment 8 over time

44.0 18/19

48.1 19/20

47.4 20/21

43.6 21/22

43.4 22/23

42.5 23/24

43.7 24/25

Education context

Norwich's latest Key Stage 4 outcomes are below both East of England 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 Norwich, based on the earnings of local residents.

2025

Median house price

£235,000

+ 18.8% over five years

Median resident earnings

£35,263

+ 26.8% over five years

House price to earnings

6.66×

Improved from 7.11× five years ago

PRIVATE RENTING

Average monthly private rent

Typical private rental cost across all property types in Norwich.

£1,146 / month

+ 0.9% in the last year

July 2026

Norwich

£1,146

+ 0.9%

East of England

£1,285

+ 3.7%

England

£1,451

+ 3.8%

Compared with East of England £139 less per month

Compared with England £305 less per month

HOW DOES IT COMPARE?

Housing affordability

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

Norwich

6.66×

East of England

8.52×

England

7.64×

Compared with East of England More affordable

Compared with England More 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 received159this quarter+25 vs 2025 Q4

Applications decided120this quarter−29 vs 2025 Q4

Outstanding applications—at quarter end

97.5%approved

Overall approval rate117 granted3 refused+1.5 pts vs previous quarter

DECISION TIMELINESS

Decisions made within time

90.0%

Rank 192 of 294 reporting authoritiesNational median 92.5%

6.8 percentage points higher than 2025 Q4

APPLICATION MIX

Performance by development type

TypeDecisionsApprovedIn time Major1100.0%100.0% Minor4197.6%92.7% Other7897.4%88.5%

QUARTERLY FLOW

Applications through the system

Last 8 quarters

HOUSING DELIVERY TEST

Homes delivered against requirement

111%

Required5,902homes over three years

Delivered6,565homes over three years

100% requirement

No consequenceHDT 2025 government assessment

CRIME & POLICING

Police-recorded crime

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

Year ending Mar 2026

Recorded offences 16,023 Total police-recorded crime excluding fraud

Crime rate 108.9 offences per 1,000 residents

Annual change − 2.3% compared with the previous year

HOW DOES IT COMPARE?

Recorded crime rate

Offences per 1,000 residents

Norwich Your council

108.9 − 2.3%

East of England Region

68.4 − 0.1%

England National

83.4 − 1.5%

Norwich has a recorded crime rate 59.1% above East of England. It is 30.5% above the England rate.

OFFENCE PROFILE

Recorded crime by category

Norfolk

Violence 5,908

40.1 per 1,000 − 0.3%

Theft 4,953

33.7 per 1,000 − 6.8%

Public order 1,348

9.2 per 1,000 + 0.7%

Criminal damage 1,459

9.9 per 1,000 − 6.9%

Shoplifting 2,540

17.3 per 1,000 − 3.7%

Vehicle offences 450

3.1 per 1,000 − 10.4%

Burglary 453

3.1 per 1,000 − 12.7%

Drug offences 649

4.4 per 1,000 + 10.9%

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 Norwich.

63 schools

Open schools 63

Pupils 20,615

School places 23,685

Capacity used 87.0%

Primary 34 schools

9,409 pupils

Other / specialist 18 schools

3,138 pupils

Secondary 8 schools

7,355 pupils

16+ provision 2 schools

635 pupils

Nursery 1 school

78 pupils

CURRENT POSITION

Inspection coverage

Latest Ofsted management information

Renewed framework 3

4.8% of open schools

Previous full framework 31

49.2% of open schools

Ungraded inspection 14

22.2% of open schools

No Ofsted record 15

23.8% of open schools

RENEWED FRAMEWORK

Latest inspection standards

3 schools assessed

Achievement 3 assessed

Expected standard 2

Needs attention 1

Attendance & behaviour 3 assessed

Expected standard 3

Curriculum & teaching 3 assessed

Expected standard 3

Inclusion 3 assessed

Expected standard 3

Leadership & governance 3 assessed

Expected standard 3

Personal development 3 assessed

Expected standard 2

Strong standard 1

Safeguarding 3 assessed

Met 3

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 2

Good 13

Requires improvement 4

Not judged 12

LOCAL SCHOOLS

School directory

View all schools

School	Phase	Pupils	Capacity	Latest Ofsted position
Angel Road Infant School URN 145628 · NR3 3HR	Primary	155	270	Not judged
Angel Road Junior School URN 145737 · NR3 3HR	Primary	192	360	Not judged
Avenue Junior School URN 120928 · NR2 3HP	Primary	466	480	Ungraded inspection
Bignold Primary School and Nursery URN 144640 · NR2 2SY	Primary	399	420	Good
Bluebell Primary School URN 147940 · NR4 7DS	Primary	201	210	Ungraded inspection
Catton Grove Primary School URN 134960 · NR3 3TP	Primary	639	866	Good
Chapel Break Infant School URN 121018 · NR5 9LU	Primary	159	180	Outstanding
Charles Darwin Primary School URN 142871 · NR1 1DJ	Primary	465	420	Ungraded inspection

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 147,182 2024

East of England region 6,576,306

Five-year population change

+3,882 residents ↑ 2.7%

Norwich +2.7%

East of England +4.8%

England +4.3%

Growth context

Norwich's population grew over five years. Its change was 2.1 percentage points below the East of England and 1.5 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 Norwich?

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

DWP · May 2026

PEOPLE ON UNIVERSAL CREDIT 22,674 15.4% of the 2024 resident population May 2026

CHANGE IN 12 MONTHS +10.3% +2,125 people

LATEST MONTHLY CHANGE +0.7% +148 since April 2026

LOCAL CONTEXT

Universal Credit recipients as a share of population

Comparison using 2024 resident population estimates.

May 2026

Norwich LOCAL AUTHORITY

15.4%

East of England REGION

10.3%

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

22,674 20,183 17,692

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

AIR QUALITY

How clean is the air?

Long-term particulate pollution across the council area, alongside measurements from local UK-AIR monitoring stations.

POPULATION-WEIGHTED ANNUAL MEAN

Fine particulate matter

No annual PM2.5 estimate is currently available.

LONG-TERM TREND

PM2.5 over time

Not enough annual data is available to show a trend.

CURRENT MONITORING

Latest station measurement

UK-AIR

PM2.5 7.6 µg/m³

Provisional

Last 24 hours 2.9 – 10.1 µg/m³

Norwich Lakenfields Automatic Urban and Rural Monitoring Network (AURN); Non-Automatic Hydrocarbon Network · Urban Background Latest measurement: 2026-09-23 01:00:00+01

This is a measurement from an individual monitoring station and should not be interpreted as the current concentration across the whole council area.

HEALTH IMPACT

Particulate air pollution

No current OHID particulate-air-pollution mortality estimate is available.

Annual PM2.5 is Defra Pollution Climate Mapping data. Monitoring readings are station-specific UK-AIR measurements and may be provisional.

HOUSING LICENSING

HMOs and property licensing

Coverage not assessedNational HMO explorer

Licensed HMOsAwaiting registerOnly licensed properties will be counted

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

£30.23m 2024/25 actual outturn

Net revenue expenditure

£24.01m 2024/25 actual outturn

Council Tax requirement

£11.52m 2024/25 actual outturn

Unallocated reserves

£8.25m 2024/25 actual outturn

Service expenditure per resident £205

Median for councils of the same type £166 24.1% above peer median

2024/25 SERVICE SPENDING

Where the money was spent

Net current expenditure after service income.

Actual outturn

Central services Gross £24.95m · Income £12.90m

£12.05m

Environmental and regulatory services Gross £12.92m · Income £3.77m

£9.16m

Culture and related services Gross £5.88m · Income £1.41m

£4.47m

Housing Gross £10.30m · Income £5.86m

£4.44m

Planning and development Gross £5.44m · Income £1.61m

£3.83m

Public health Gross £347.0k · Income £0.00

£347.0k

Highways and transport Gross £6.99m · Income £11.05m

£-4.06m

CORE FUNDING

Selected funding sources

Major financing lines in the central return.

Council Tax requirement£11.52m

Retained business rates£8.85m

Revenue Support Grant£523.0k

UNALLOCATED RESERVES

Financial buffer

General unallocated reserves during the year.

Opening £8.25m

Closing £8.25m

£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

£145.97m 2026/27 Q1 quarter end

Investments and cash

£66.93m 2026/27 Q1 quarter end

Net debt

£79.04m 2026/27 Q1 quarter end

Net debt per resident

£537 Per resident using latest population

This council's net debt per resident £537

Median for non-metropolitan district councils £95 464.0% higher than the peer median

QUARTERLY TREND

Borrowing, investments and net debt

2020/21 Q1 to 2026/27 Q1.

£4.19m quarterly increase

2020/21 Q12021/22 Q32023/24 Q12024/25 Q32026/27 Q1

Latest quarterly movement +£4.19m +5.6%

Change across the series −£73.38m Net debt since 2020/21 Q1

What changed?

Net debt increased despite borrowing not rising because investments and cash fell during the quarter.

BORROWING COMPOSITION

Where the borrowing sits

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

2026/27 Q1

Public Works Loan Board£145.95m

Other longer-term borrowing£22.0k

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

£18.21m Total outstanding at financial year-end

Collection rate

93.82% Collected against the in-year debit

Council tax written off

£1.18m Written off during the financial year

Council tax collected

£91.25m 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

£18.21m

CHANGE SINCE 2021/22

+ 49.0%

+ £5.99m

ENGLAND CHANGE

+49.5%

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.

£18.21m outstanding

CURRENT FINANCIAL YEAR £6.12m

33.6% of outstanding arrears

EARLIER FINANCIAL YEARS £12.09m

66.4% 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 93.82%

England average: 95.60% · 1.78 percentage points below 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

Contract	Supplier	Status	End date	Original value

SUPPLIERS

Largest supplier exposure

Dated transactions

Supplier	Payments	Published expenditure

PROVENANCE

Source documents

39 imported

Document	Dataset	Period	Status	Official source
Housing Delivery Test 2025 results — Norwich	mhclg housing delivery test	HDT 2025–HDT 2025	imported	Open
MHCLG district planning application decisions (PS2) — Norwich	mhclg planning ps2	1979 Q2–2026 Q1	imported	Open
MHCLG district planning application statistics (PS1) — Norwich	mhclg planning ps1	1996 Q2–2026 Q1	imported	Open
Defra local authority waste statistics — Norwich City Council	defra local authority waste	2010/11–2024/25	imported	Open
MHCLG Revenue Outturn Service Summary 2023/24 — Norwich City	mhclg revenue outturn rsx	2023/24	imported	Open
MHCLG Revenue Outturn Summary 2023/24 — Norwich City	mhclg revenue outturn rs	2023/24	imported	Open
MHCLG Revenue Outturn Service Summary 2022/23 — Norwich	mhclg revenue outturn rsx	2022/23	imported	Open
MHCLG Revenue Outturn Summary 2022/23 — Norwich	mhclg revenue outturn rs	2022/23	imported	Open
MHCLG Revenue Outturn Service Summary 2021/22 — Norwich	mhclg revenue outturn rsx	2021/22	imported	Open
MHCLG Revenue Outturn Summary 2021/22 — Norwich	mhclg revenue outturn rs	2021/22	imported	Open
MHCLG Revenue Outturn Service Summary 2020/21 — Norwich City	mhclg revenue outturn rsx	2020/21	imported	Open
MHCLG Revenue Outturn Summary 2020/21 — Norwich City	mhclg revenue outturn rs	2020/21	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2025/26 Q4 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2025/26 Q4	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2025/26 Q3 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2025/26 Q3	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2025/26 Q2 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2025/26 Q2	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2025/26 Q1 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2025/26 Q1	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2024/25 Q4 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2024/25 Q4	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2024/25 Q3 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2024/25 Q3	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2024/25 Q2 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2024/25 Q2	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2024/25 Q1 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2024/25 Q1	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2023/24 Q4 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2023/24 Q4	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2023/24 Q3 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2023/24 Q3	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2023/24 Q2 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2023/24 Q2	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2023/24 Q1 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2023/24 Q1	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2022/23 Q4 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2022/23 Q4	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2022/23 Q3 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2022/23 Q3	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2022/23 Q2 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2022/23 Q2	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2022/23 Q1 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2022/23 Q1	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2021/22 Q4 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2021/22 Q4	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2021/22 Q3 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2021/22 Q3	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2021/22 Q2 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2021/22 Q2	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2021/22 Q1 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2021/22 Q1	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2020/21 Q4 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2020/21 Q4	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2020/21 Q3 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2020/21 Q3	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2020/21 Q2 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2020/21 Q2	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2020/21 Q1 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2020/21 Q1	imported	Open
MHCLG Borrowing and Investment 2026/27 Q1 — Norwich	mhclg borrowing investment	2026/27 Q1	imported	Open
MHCLG Revenue Outturn Service Summary 2024/25 — Norwich City	mhclg revenue outturn rsx	2024/25	imported	Open
MHCLG Revenue Outturn Summary 2024/25 — Norwich City	mhclg revenue outturn rs	2024/25	imported	Open

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.