Trend
+24 Latest quarter change
+666 Change across series
48 Official data points
St Helens
David Baines
2 MPs cover constituencies in or overlapping St Helens.
576 people housed on asylum support in St Helens
Rank 54 of 361 councils nationally. The rate of 30.5 per 10,000 puts St Helens in the 91st percentile. That means this area carries more asylum seekers per head than 90% of the country. At roughly £150/person/day, that costs the taxpayer an estimated £32M per year for this area alone.
What asylum costs St Helens
£11.3Mestimated hotel costs/year
£1.5Msubsistence payments/year
£691KLA dispersal grant/year
Estimates based on 576 people on asylum support in St Helens (0.54% of 107,003 nationally). Hotel costs pro-rated from £5.77M/day national spend (2024/25 average, NAO). Subsistence: £49.18/week per person. Nationally, the hotel bill alone costs £62 per taxpayer per year.
St Helens: asylum numbers still rising
Quarter-end stock series to Dec 2025. A rise or fall is a net change in the number of people on support at period end, not the number of new claims or distinct people moving through the caseload. Support stock also overlaps with, but is not identical to, the awaiting-decision backlog.
Local numbers
Accommodation split
Dispersal accommodation 576
Initial accommodation 0
Subsistence only 0
Contingency accommodation 0
Pathway breakdown
Other routes
Homes for Ukraine 155
Afghan programme 47
Resettlement cumulative 127
Population context
All pathways total 778
Share of local population 0.41%
Ethnic composition projection
St Helens: WBI 93.6% (2021) → 78.7% (2051). 80% CI: 79.3–82.1%.
Ethnic composition: St Helens
White British White Other 80% CI
Each line shows one ethnic group's share of the local population. The shaded band is the 80% confidence range. Values after 2051 are illustrative only.
Ethnic composition: St Helens
Census 2011, Census 2021, then Hamilton-Perry projections to 2051. Percentages.
White British White Other Asian Black Mixed Other
Model: Hamilton-Perry single-year CCRs, 1,000 Monte Carlo simulations, SNPP-constrained
Census 2011 to 2021 cohort change ratios. Shaded band = 80% confidence interval from stochastic perturbation. Not a forecast.
Scenario explorer
Under different assumptions, White British share in St Helens ranges from 65.0% to 82.8% by 2051. That is a 17.8pp spread.
Fertility
Low ~108k/yr
Principal ~315k/yr
High ~476k/yr
Constant Rates stay at current levels
Half convergence Move halfway to national avg
Full convergence Converge to national avg
Migration
Central scenario: WBI 71.8% by 2051
Religion projection
Muslim 0.8% (2021) → 1.9% (2051). Christian 65.4% → 9.0%.
Religion: St Helens
Christian No religion
Religious affiliation projected from Census 2021 self-identification. Trends reflect demographic change in the existing population, not religious conversion.
Nativity
5% foreign-born (2021). Diversity: low diversity (entropy 0.18). 97.2% main language English.
UK-born vs foreign-born: St Helens
UK-born Foreign-born
Share of the local population born outside the UK. Movement reflects both new arrivals and the UK-born children of existing residents reaching adulthood.
low immigration: Limited ethnic diversity. Projections primarily driven by national trends.
Census 2021 mobility: 7.1% moved within UK, 0.3% arrived from abroad
black 14.2% internal, 7.2% international
other 12.1% internal, 6.8% international
white other 15.6% internal, 3% international
asian 11.4% internal, 2.7% international
mixed 11.9% internal, 2% international
white british 6.6% internal, 0.1% international
Why St Helens is changing
-3ppWhite British change 2011–2021. Cyan = decline. Amber = growth.
Dominant driver: national trend. Shift-share methodology following Franklin (2014).
Full demographic profile
School pressure, housing demand, service demand scoring, economic profile, language projections, and more on UK Demographics.
View St Helens on UK Demographics →
Economy & housing by ethnicity
Census 2021 employment, homeownership, and qualifications by ethnic group.
Employment rate
White British 57.3%
Mixed 69.1%
White Other 76.2%
Other 56.2%
Homeownership rate
White British 65.8%
Mixed 49.8%
White Other 47.3%
Other 36.7%
Degree+ qualification rate
White British 26.7%
Mixed 37.8%
White Other 39.2%
Other 35.7%
Source
Census 2021 RM018 (economic activity), RM134 (tenure), RM049 (qualifications) by ethnic group. Observed, not projected.
School ethnicity
DfE School Census 2024/25: 26,891 pupils. 88.1% White British. Schools are 5.5pp more diverse than the general population.
Pupil ethnicity
White British 88.1%
White Other 3.6%
Mixed 2.7%
Asian 2.5%
Black 2.2%
Other 1%
What this means
Schools are 6pp more diverse than the general population. Schools show the future.
11.9% Minority pupils now
23.4% Projected 2041
Demographic pipeline
86.5% Primary WBI
89.8% Secondary WBI
Accelerating diversification. Primary schools are significantly more diverse than secondary.
Fertility proxy (10-year school trend): WBI share in primary schools changing at -0.93pp/year. Gradual diversification in school-age population.
Source & validation
DfE School Census 2024/25. State-funded schools. Upper-tier LA level. Validated against Census 2021 ages 4-15: Census WBI 92.2% vs school 88.1% (-4.1pp gap).
Service demand impact
Projected impact of demographic change on local services.
non-English speakers
Interpreter demand is manageable at current levels.
foreign-born growth to 2051
High foreign-born population growth will drive additional housing demand, particularly in the private rented sector.
EAL growth
EAL demand growth is moderate.
National benchmarks
Supported asylum count
576 National distribution.
Supported asylum rate
30.5 Per 10,000 residents.
Contingency accommodation
0 Hotel and contingency placements.
Regional peers
Top 6 in North West by supported asylum.