Local profile · Southampton (unitary city council) · 2022–2026
21.5% of pupils at schools in Southampton were persistently absent, the highest share in Hampshire
In 2024/25, 21.5% of pupils at schools in Southampton missed at least one session in ten, 3.4 percentage points above England’s 18.1%. Figures are for Southampton council area; compare them with the other 12 areas below.
Evidence last reviewed 3 October 2026
The evidence
How many pupils miss one school session in ten or more?
21.5%
England 18.1% (2024/25). Hampshire range 12.7% (Hart) to 21.5% (Southampton). Highest of 13 Hampshire areas.
School attendance in England →Southampton council area · 2024/25
Source: How many pupils miss one school session in ten or more?
Official statistic · DfE, Pupil absence in schools in England 2024/25, Absence by school location (local authority district basis)
How long can a boy born here expect to live?
78.0 yrs
England 79.5 yrs (2022 to 2024). Hampshire range 78.0 yrs (Southampton) to 83.7 yrs (Hart). Lowest of 13 Hampshire areas.
How healthy life differs by deprivation in England →Southampton council area · 2022 to 2024
Source: How long can a boy born here expect to live?
Official statistic · ONS, Life expectancy for local areas of the UK: between 2001 to 2003 and 2022 to 2024, Life expectancy at birth, by sex
How many neighbourhoods are among England’s most deprived?
11.8%
England 10.0% (2025). Hampshire range 0.0% (Winchester) to 12.0% (Portsmouth). 2nd highest of 13 Hampshire areas.
Inequality in the UK →Southampton council area · 2025
Source: How many neighbourhoods are among England’s most deprived?
Official statistic · MHCLG, English Indices of Deprivation 2025, Local authority summaries: proportion of LSOAs in the most deprived 10% nationally
How does Southampton compare?
Southampton: persistent absence rate 21.5%, the highest of 13 areas; Hart is lowest at 12.7%
Pupils missing 10% or more of possible sessions as a share of enrolled pupils, all state-funded schools located in the area, 2024/25 academic year.
2024/25England 18.1%
- Southampton21.5%
- Portsmouth19.7%
- Gosport19.7%
- Havant19.5%
- New Forest17.2%
- Basingstoke and Deane15.6%
- Eastleigh15.6%
- Fareham15.2%
- Rushmoor15.2%
- East Hampshire15.1%
- Winchester14.7%
- Test Valley13.9%
- Hart12.7%
Southampton has the highest persistent absence rate (21.5%) and Hart the lowest (12.7%); 4 of 13 areas are above England’s 18.1%. Southampton is 21.5%, 3.4 percentage points above England (1st highest of 13). Counted where the school is, not where the pupil lives, and with pupil enrolments as the denominator. Absence has many causes, including illness, special educational needs and family circumstances. 2024/25 is the latest year held here.
Ceremonial Hampshire’s 13 council areas (11 districts, Portsmouth and Southampton) · 2024/25 · Official statistic
Sources, definitions and data — Southampton: persistent absence rate 21.5%, the highest of 13 areas; Hart is lowest at 12.7%
- Geography:
- Ceremonial Hampshire’s 13 council areas (11 districts, Portsmouth and Southampton)
- Measure:
- % of enrolled pupils
- Period:
- 2024/25
- Status:
- Official statistic
- Calculation:
- As published by the source.
- Compare with:
- England 18.1%, 2024/25
Source: DfE, Pupil absence in schools in England 2024/25, Absence by school location (local authority district basis). Chart HANTS-02.
View the data as a table
| Area | % of enrolled pupils | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Southampton | 21.5% | 2024/25 |
| Portsmouth | 19.7% | 2024/25 |
| Gosport | 19.7% | 2024/25 |
| Havant | 19.5% | 2024/25 |
| New Forest | 17.2% | 2024/25 |
| Basingstoke and Deane | 15.6% | 2024/25 |
| Eastleigh | 15.6% | 2024/25 |
| Fareham | 15.2% | 2024/25 |
| Rushmoor | 15.2% | 2024/25 |
| East Hampshire | 15.1% | 2024/25 |
| Winchester | 14.7% | 2024/25 |
| Test Valley | 13.9% | 2024/25 |
| Hart | 12.7% | 2024/25 |
Compare Southampton with any other area on another measure: compare Hampshire’s 13 areas.
Issues in Southampton
Is crime in Southampton as bad as people say?Recurring public claims about crime in the city, each tested against official recorded-crime and survey data.Claims are checked against the source, not repeated.Read the chapter → Is crime in Southampton as bad as people say? Southampton’s strengths and pressuresA structured summary of where the city is strong and where it is under strain.Context beyond the comparable statistics.Read the chapter → Southampton’s strengths and pressures How long can a boy born here expect to live?Male life expectancy at birth in Southampton was 78.0 years in 2022–24, 1.5 years less than England’s 79.5.Healthy life expectancy differs by many years between England’s most and least deprived areas.Read the chapter → How long can a boy born here expect to live? How much crime is recorded by the police?Police recorded 118.8 crimes per 1,000 residents in Southampton from September 2025 to August 2026 (police.uk, excluding anti-social behaviour); England’s official rate was 83.4 for the year to March 2026, a different source.How local recorded crime differs from national survey estimates.Read the chapter → How much crime is recorded by the police?
Crime recorded in Southampton
Police-recorded crime, street-level data from police.uk, September 2025 to August 2026
30,787 crimes were recorded by the police in the Southampton council area from September 2025 to August 2026: 118.8 per 1,000 residents, the highest of Hampshire’s 13 areas. A further 3,902 anti-social behaviour incidents are counted separately.
Rates are per resident. Places that draw large numbers of shoppers, commuters, students, visitors and night-time crowds — Portsmouth and Southampton city centres above all — record crimes against people who do not live there, so their rates overstate the risk to residents. Recorded crime also reflects how often crimes are reported and how forces record them, not only how much crime happens.
England’s official rate was 83.4 per 1,000 (ONS police recorded crime excluding fraud, year ending March 2026) — a different source and year, so read the gap (+35.4) as approximate.
What kinds of crime are recorded in Southampton?
Violence and sexual offences make up 41% of recorded crime in Southampton
Crimes by police.uk category, September 2025 to August 2026. Anti-social behaviour (3,902 incidents) is not a crime and is not included.
- Violence and sexual offences12,710 (41%)
- Shoplifting3,985 (13%)
- Public order2,869 (9%)
- Criminal damage and arson2,403 (8%)
- Other theft2,112 (7%)
- Vehicle crime1,780 (6%)
- Drugs1,444 (5%)
- Burglary1,283 (4%)
- Other crime576 (2%)
- Robbery540 (2%)
- Possession of weapons464 (2%)
- Bicycle theft373 (1%)
- Theft from the person248 (under 1%)
Police-recorded crime, street-level data from police.uk, September 2025 to August 2026. Categories are police.uk’s own groupings and are broad: “violence and sexual offences” runs from harassment to serious assault. Recorded crime depends on reporting and recording as well as offending. For the year to March 2026, ONS counted 31,147 crimes in Southampton (excluding fraud); police.uk shows 30,090 for the same months (−3.4%).
Southampton council area · September 2025 to August 2026 · Police management information (police.uk); not National Statistics
Sources, definitions and data — Violence and sexual offences make up 41% of recorded crime in Southampton
- Geography:
- Southampton council area
- Measure:
- crimes (count) and share of all crimes
- Period:
- September 2025 to August 2026
- Status:
- Police management information (police.uk); not National Statistics
- Calculation:
- police.uk street-level records counted by category and assigned to the council area by map point; anti-social behaviour and British Transport Police records excluded.
- Not included / breaks:
- Fraud (not on police.uk); crimes with no usable location; anti-social behaviour (shown separately).
Source: police.uk open data, street-level crimes (Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary), POST https://data.police.uk/api/crimes-street/all-crime, months 2025-09 to 2026-08, by council-area polygon; retrieved 3 October 2026. Chart HANTS-04.
View the data as a table
| Category | Crimes | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Violence and sexual offences | 12,710 | 41.3% |
| Shoplifting | 3,985 | 12.9% |
| Public order | 2,869 | 9.3% |
| Criminal damage and arson | 2,403 | 7.8% |
| Other theft | 2,112 | 6.9% |
| Vehicle crime | 1,780 | 5.8% |
| Drugs | 1,444 | 4.7% |
| Burglary | 1,283 | 4.2% |
| Other crime | 576 | 1.9% |
| Robbery | 540 | 1.8% |
| Possession of weapons | 464 | 1.5% |
| Bicycle theft | 373 | 1.2% |
| Theft from the person | 248 | 0.8% |
| All crimes (excluding anti-social behaviour) | 30,787 | 100% |
| Anti-social behaviour (not a crime) | 3,902 | — |
How does recorded crime in Southampton move month by month?
2,566 crimes a month on average in Southampton; the busiest month was July 2026
Police-recorded crimes per month, excluding anti-social behaviour, September 2025 to August 2026.
The busiest month was July 2026 (2,977) and the quietest December 2025 (2,206). Recorded crime usually rises in summer and dips in winter, and one year is too short to call a trend. Police-recorded crime, street-level data from police.uk, September 2025 to August 2026.
Southampton council area · September 2025 to August 2026 · Police management information (police.uk); not National Statistics
Sources, definitions and data — 2,566 crimes a month on average in Southampton; the busiest month was July 2026
- Geography:
- Southampton council area
- Measure:
- crimes per month
- Period:
- September 2025 to August 2026
- Status:
- Police management information (police.uk); not National Statistics
- Calculation:
- Monthly counts of police.uk street-level crimes assigned to the council area by map point.
- Not included / breaks:
- Fraud; crimes with no usable location; anti-social behaviour (in the table only).
Source: police.uk open data, street-level crimes (Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary), POST https://data.police.uk/api/crimes-street/all-crime, months 2025-09 to 2026-08, by council-area polygon; retrieved 3 October 2026. Chart HANTS-05.
View the data as a table
| Month | Crimes (excluding anti-social behaviour) | Anti-social behaviour incidents |
|---|---|---|
| September 2025 | 2,470 | 275 |
| October 2025 | 2,596 | 280 |
| November 2025 | 2,373 | 245 |
| December 2025 | 2,206 | 218 |
| January 2026 | 2,330 | 229 |
| February 2026 | 2,333 | 263 |
| March 2026 | 2,651 | 332 |
| April 2026 | 2,521 | 385 |
| May 2026 | 2,702 | 409 |
| June 2026 | 2,715 | 361 |
| July 2026 | 2,977 | 437 |
| August 2026 | 2,913 | 468 |
How this compares with the official statistics
For the year to March 2026, ONS counted 31,147 crimes in Southampton (excluding fraud); police.uk shows 30,090 for the same months (−3.4%). The official series comes from the ONS and is the one used for national figures; police.uk is used here because it gives all 13 areas the same months, with categories and monthly detail. Why the two differ
Current status
- Who runs the council
- Labour majority (record checked 2026-08-01)
- MPs (2024 general election)
- Southampton Itchen — Darren Paffey (Labour); Southampton Test — Satvir Kaur (Labour). Constituency and council boundaries differ.
- Local government reorganisation
- Decision withdrawn; reorganisation under government review (checked 2026-09-23). Southampton council continues unchanged. What was decided and withdrawn
Party control and representatives across the county: Hampshire political map.
Who can change this?
Raise an issue with the body that holds the power. Responsibilities follow the two-tier split: the 11 districts share Hampshire County Council for schools, social care and public health, while Portsmouth and Southampton run all of these themselves.
| Issue | Local council | County / combined authority | NHS and police | Central government |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Housing supply and affordability | Southampton City Council: local plan, planning decisions, homelessness duty, its own council housing where held | Highways, schools and other infrastructure that sites need | — | MHCLG: national planning policy and housing targets; Homes England: affordable-housing funding |
| Work and benefits | Southampton City Council: local economic development and employment support | Hampshire and the Solent Combined County Authority: adult skills (from August 2027) and strategic growth | NHS: health-related support to stay in work | DWP and Jobcentre Plus: Universal Credit and conditionality |
| School attendance | Southampton City Council: the local authority for schools | Southampton City Council (unitary: also the upper tier): attendance support under DfE’s statutory guidance | NHS: children’s mental health services | DfE: funding and attendance policy; schools and academy trusts |
| Health and life expectancy | Southampton City Council: housing standards, leisure, environmental health | Southampton City Council (unitary: also the upper tier): public health duty and grant | NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB: commissioning; GP practices and trusts: care | DHSC: NHS funding and public health grant |
| Crime and safety | Southampton City Council: Community Safety Partnership, licensing, CCTV | — | Police and Crime Commissioner: police plan and budget; Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary: operations | Home Office: police funding formula and law |
Connections
- School attendance in England
What persistent absence measures and what has been tried. Schools and academy trusts; the local authority (Portsmouth, Southampton or Hampshire County Council) under DfE’s statutory attendance guidance; DfE nationally.
- How healthy life differs by deprivation in England
Healthy life expectancy differs by many years between England’s most and least deprived areas. Upper-tier councils hold the public health duty (Portsmouth, Southampton, Hampshire County Council); the NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB commissions care; districts run housing, leisure and environmental health.
- Compare Southampton with another area
Put any two Hampshire areas side by side on the same measure and period.
- Which bodies cover this area?
ICB, police, education and social-care responsibilities for each of the 13 areas.
Local context
Background on the city’s economy, hospital and neighbourhoods. Figures here are from the named council, NHS or company sources, not the comparable measures above.
Major employers
Associated British Ports
Southampton container, cruise & vehicle port
University Hospital Southampton
12,000+ staff — major trauma centre
University of Southampton
City's 2nd-largest employer, ~6,500 staff
Southampton City Council
3,461 staff (58% city residents)
Carnival UK
P&O Cruises / Cunard's operating company — almost 2,000 staff at its Southampton HQ (guest services, product design, ship logistics)
Ordnance Survey
National mapping agency — headquartered in Southampton since 1841
The Port of Southampton
ABP's Southampton port handles around 3 million cruise passengers a year across five terminals, is the UK's leading vehicle-handling port (600,000 vehicles/year), and hosts the UK's second-largest container terminal. Nationally, the port is reported by ABP to support 45,600 jobs and contribute £2.5 billion to the UK economy annually — a whole-port figure, not a Southampton-city-specific one.
Source: ABP — Southampton
University Hospital Southampton — service geography context
University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest acute teaching trusts in England, and the designated major trauma centre for the Wessex region and the Channel Islands.
1.9 million
People served for general/primary hospital services across southern Hampshire
3.7 million
People served for specialist services — central southern England and the Channel Islands
~150,000
Emergency department attendances per year (as published by the Trust)
~750,000
Outpatient appointments per year (as published by the Trust)
- • One of only two hospitals in southern England offering full on-site major trauma care for both adults and children
- • Specialist services include neurosciences, cancer, cardiovascular, respiratory medicine and specialist children's services
Source: University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust — About UHS
Ward-level detail
The authority-wide deprivation figures above can conceal sharp variation between individual neighbourhoods. Southampton ranked 55th most deprived of England's 317 local authorities (English Indices of Deprivation 2019), with 19 of its neighbourhoods (LSOAs) among the most-deprived 10% nationally.
- • Bargate (Golden Grove), Weston, Thornhill and Millbrook contain Southampton's most deprived neighbourhoods on the 2019 Indices of Deprivation
- • Income deprivation affecting children ranges from under 5% in parts of Portswood, Shirley and Bassett to over 45% in parts of Redbridge and Woolston
- • 34% of state-school pupils were eligible for free school meals in 2022/23, against a 23.8% England average
- • Males in Southampton's most deprived areas live 7.8 years less, and females 3.4 years less, than those in the least deprived areas (2019–2021)
Source: Southampton Strategic Assessment: Deprivation and Poverty (Southampton Data Observatory / Southampton City Council, last updated January 2025), based on the English Indices of Deprivation 2019, DfE 2022/23 and DWP data as cited therein.
Innovation & Green Energy
Southampton Innovation Cluster
All figures below are sourced from official publications — nothing is estimated or inferred.
🔬 Southampton Science Park
Owned by the University of Southampton, the Science Park is home to over 100 companies, around 15% of which are University spin-outs or founded by academic staff — including Perpetuum, a spin-out from the University's School of Electronics and Computer Science that harvests kinetic energy and was named among Europe's top-100 Cleantech companies. The park has a long-standing partnership with SETsquared, the top-ranked university business incubator globally.
Source: UK Science Park Association
🚢 Solent Freeport — Southampton Water tax sites
Southampton's Solent Freeport tax sites are branded “Southampton Water” and include Fawley Waterside, ExxonMobil (Fawley), Solent Gateway, ABP-Redbridge and ABP-Solent Gateway 2 (Portsmouth's tax site is separate). Freeport-wide — not Southampton-specific — the Solent Freeport is projected to support 15,000 jobs and a £1bn uplift in Gross Value Added; no site-level breakdown of that figure is published.
Source: Solent Freeport
⚓ Green shipping
The Port of Southampton has hosted live demonstrations of green maritime fuel — including the world's first dual-fuel ammonia vessel, Fortescue's Green Pioneer, which called at the port in 2025.
Source: ABP — Port of Southampton news
All figures for Southampton
Every comparable measure held for the 13 areas, with its own period and comparator. Survey estimates and measures with mixed periods are not ranked.
| Measure | Southampton | England / GB | Hampshire range | Period | Status and source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claimant rate | 4.2% | 4.0% (England, August 2026) | 1.8% (Hart) – 4.5% (Portsmouth) | August 2026 | Official statistic · ONS Claimant Count via Nomis (NM_162_1, measure 2) |
| Employment rate | 73.3% | 75.5% (GB, Apr 2025-Mar 2026) | 73.3% (Southampton) – 87.6% (Fareham) | Apr 2025-Mar 2026 | Survey estimate · ONS Annual Population Survey via Nomis |
| Median full-time earnings (residents) | £37,669 | £40,014 (England, 2025) | £36,457 (Portsmouth) – £48,256 (Hart) | 2025 | Official statistic · ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, resident analysis, via Nomis |
| House price to earnings ratio | 6.9× | 7.4× (England, House price: year ending Mar 2026. Earnings: 2025.) | 6.8× (Gosport) – 10.5× (Winchester) | Year ending Mar 2026 house price / 2025 earnings | Site calculation · ONS median house prices for administrative geographies (HPSSA) |
| Median house price | £260,000 | £295,000 (England, Year ending Mar 2026) | £252,000 (Gosport) – £467,500 (Winchester) | Year ending Mar 2026 | Official statistic · ONS median house prices for administrative geographies (HPSSA) |
| Persistent absence | 21.5% | 18.1% (England, 2024/25) | 12.7% (Hart) – 21.5% (Southampton) | 2024/25 | Official statistic · DfE, Pupil absence in schools in England 2024/25 |
| Male life expectancy at birth | 78.0 yrs | 79.5 yrs (England, 2022 to 2024) | 78.0 yrs (Southampton) – 83.7 yrs (Hart) | 2022 to 2024 | Official statistic · ONS, Life expectancy for local areas of the UK: between 2001 to 2003 and 2022 to 2024 |
| Female life expectancy at birth | 82.6 yrs | 83.3 yrs (England, 2022 to 2024) | 82.3 yrs (Gosport) – 86.3 yrs (Winchester) | 2022 to 2024 | Official statistic · ONS, Life expectancy for local areas of the UK: between 2001 to 2003 and 2022 to 2024 |
| Neighbourhoods in England’s most deprived 10% | 11.8% | 10.0% (England, 2025) | 0.0% (Winchester) – 12.0% (Portsmouth) | 2025 | Official statistic · MHCLG, English Indices of Deprivation 2025 |
| Police-recorded crime rate | 118.8 | 83.4 (England, year ending March 2026) | 37.1 (Hart) – 118.8 (Southampton) | September 2025 to August 2026 | Administrative data · police.uk open data, street-level crimes (Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary) |
Sources and methods (12)
- ONS Claimant Count via Nomis (NM_162_1, measure 2), Claimants as a proportion of residents aged 16–64 — Claimant rate, every area and England, monthly (stored series).
- ONS Annual Population Survey via Nomis, Employment rate, aged 16–64 — Employment rate, April 2025 to March 2026; Great Britain comparator.
- ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, resident analysis, via Nomis, Median gross weekly pay, full-time workers, by place of residence — Median full-time resident earnings, 2025.
- ONS median house prices for administrative geographies (HPSSA), Median price paid, all dwellings — Median house prices; with ASHE, the house-price-to-earnings ratio.
- DfE, Pupil absence in schools in England 2024/25, Absence by school location (local authority district basis) — Persistent absence by school location, 2024/25, and England.
- ONS, Life expectancy for local areas of the UK: between 2001 to 2003 and 2022 to 2024, Life expectancy at birth, by sex — Life expectancy at birth by sex, 2022–2024.
- MHCLG, English Indices of Deprivation 2025, Local authority summaries: proportion of LSOAs in the most deprived 10% nationally (released 30 October 2025) — Share of neighbourhoods in England’s most deprived 10%.
- police.uk open data, street-level crimes (Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary), POST https://data.police.uk/api/crimes-street/all-crime, months 2025-09 to 2026-08, by council-area polygon; retrieved 3 October 2026 — Police-recorded crime, street-level data from police.uk, September 2025 to August 2026: every area’s crime totals, categories, monthly counts and anti-social behaviour.
- ONS, Crime in England and Wales: Police force area data tables, year ending march 2026, P1 (force counts), P3 (force rates), C2 (CSP counts), C4 (CSP rates) (released 23 July 2026) — The official check: police recorded crime by force and Community Safety Partnership, year to March 2026 (tables P1, P3, C2, C4), and England’s rate.
- ONS mid-year population estimates, mid-2025, all ages (Nomis dataset NM_31_1) — Resident populations (mid-2025) for crime rates per 1,000.
- NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB: changes from 1 April 2026 — ICB boundary change, 1 April 2026.
- Hampshire and the Solent Combined County Authority — Combined county authority status and powers.
Method notes
- Each local page’s headline is chosen by a site rule, not written by hand: among measures with a matched England comparator and one period for all 13 areas, the selector scores |distance from the Hampshire median| + 0.5 × |distance from England|, both in cross-area standard deviations, and takes the highest. Survey estimates (employment rate), measures with mixed periods, and crime (its England comparator is a different source) cannot lead. Below a score of 0.75 the page uses a neutral fallback.
- County figures are never invented. Rates are shown as ranges across the 13 areas, with the lowest and highest named, because a pooled employment rate needs each area’s employed and 16–64 population counts and a pooled absence rate needs pupil enrolments — this site holds neither. Population is a genuine sum.
- England comparators: claimant count, absence, life expectancy and deprivation share the local period. So does the house-price-to-earnings ratio. Crime is compared with England’s ONS rate for the year to March 2026, a different source, which is flagged beside the figure. The employment comparator is Great Britain because Nomis publishes no England figure in that series.
- Ranks are given only for administrative measures with one period. Survey estimates show no rank.
- Winchester figures cover Winchester district, not just the city.
- Crime (September 2025 to August 2026): every crime police.uk published for the 13 areas, fetched month by month from the police.uk API for a polygon around each council area, de-duplicated and assigned to the area its anonymised map point falls in (unsimplified ONS boundaries; 17 points on the coast that fell between boundary lines went to the nearest area within 1 km). Anti-social behaviour and British Transport Police records are kept out of crime totals. Rates use ONS mid-2025 resident populations. The method and script are in scripts/police-uk/; a check against the site’s separately built police.uk archive series for Portsmouth and Southampton (assigned by neighbourhood code, not by map point) agrees to within one crime a month.
- Crime is checked against the ONS official figures (police force area and Community Safety Partnership tables, year ending March 2026). Over the same 12 months (April 2025 to March 2026), police.uk shows 135,156 crimes in the 13 areas against 137,696 in the ONS tables (−1.8%). Area by area the two are within 3.4% of each other; police.uk is lower in most areas and slightly higher in a few. For the whole force, including the Isle of Wight, police.uk is 4.1% below ONS, mostly because ONS also counts 3,316 offences it could not place in any area.
- Crime is not used to lead a page: the comparator for England is a different source, and resident-based rates overstate risk where many non-residents visit. Areas are ranked only with that caveat beside the rank.