Slough Borough Council
Doing right by Slough
Slough – just 15 minutes from London by train and on the new Elizabeth Line.
Slough has the youngest average age (33) of any large town or city in the UK. It is also one of the most ethnically diverse places in the UK and has attracted people from across the world for more than a century shaping it into a major trading area.
The town remains very well connected, situated 25 miles west of central London with major transport routes and the UK main international airport in close proximity.
Its location has helped create an £8 billion economy, with around 7,500 businesses, the highest concentration of UK headquarters of global companies outside of London and the second largest
concentration of data centres in the world.
Slough’s top three specialised employment areas are warehousing and logistics (4.1 times greater than the national average), utilities and waste, and ICT media and creative services.
However, Slough’s business and connectedness has not brought prosperity to all its residents.
While it has the second highest average workplace earnings after London, deprivation is high across much of the borough.
In April 2021, 23 percent of the working aged population in Slough were claiming government based benefits.
The recent pandemic affected Slough particularly badly with increases in claims for unemployment related benefits and with an average rate of 89 in 1,000 persons aged 16-64 claiming unemployment
support.
There is a recognised need to increase the skills of local residents – particularly with NVQ3 qualifications and above – so Slough’s communities can be competitive and secure productive jobs.
Despite comparatively low levels of skills, Slough has a range of excellent primary and secondary schools. In 2019, 57 percent of pupils achieved GCSE grade 5 or above in English and Maths, better than the national average of 43 percent, putting Slough consistently in the top 10 best performers in the country.
But at A-level further progress remains important. 12.3 percent achieved grades AAB or higher, below the national average of 14.1 percent and the council needs to understand the difference in outcomes
between 16 and 18, and work with schools and partners to find ways to address this gap.
Geographically small, by comparison to other unitary council areas, Slough is a collection of formerly distinct villages and neighbourhoods.
Our priorities
- A council that lives within our means, balances the budget and delivers best value.
- An environment that helps residents live more independent, healthier and safer lives.
- A borough for children and young people to thrive.
- Infrastructure that reflects the uniqueness of Slough’s places and a new vision for the town centre.
Our people
Our staff and councillors reflect the people we serve. We are proud of our diversity, with strong forums including an employee engagement forum, race equality forum, celebrating heritage forum, disability forum, LGBTQ+ and women’s forum. We engage our staff through various networks with input from all departments and from all levels, who reflect the interests of all teams across the council in our programme.
Our ways of working
We are passionate about our values, which were co-created by staff and are worn by all: They are proud to be accountable, ambitious, empowering, responsive and innovative.
Through our programme to introduce new technology and our response to Covid-19, we have fully embraced smart working, with opportunities for staff to work from the location that suits them best. For us, work is about what you achieve, not where you do it.