Headline evidence · Local · Ceremonial Hampshire · 13 council areas · life expectancy 2022–2024

Men’s life expectancy differs by nearly six years across Hampshire.

In 2022–2024, male life expectancy at birth was 83.7 years in Hart and 78.0 in Southampton. These are estimates for areas within ceremonial Hampshire, not predictions for individuals.

Geography
Ceremonial Hampshire, 13 council areas
Evidence period
2022–2024
Evidence status
Site calculation from published data
Editorial review
Reviewed 11 October 2026

The short version

Three key measures

Who feels this most?

The widest gap is in how long people live. Male life expectancy runs from 78.0 years in Southampton to 83.7 in Hart (2022–24), a gap of 5.7 years inside one county. Life expectancy sums up income, work, housing, behaviour and care; no single measure on this page explains it. These are area averages, not predictions for individuals.

The evidence

What “Hampshire” means here

This is the site’s local focus. It covers ceremonial Hampshire only and does not imply comparable coverage for the rest of the UK.

Ceremonial Hampshire
The 13 council areas this site covers: Portsmouth and Southampton (unitary city councils) and 11 districts and boroughs. The Isle of Wight is a separate county.
Hampshire County Council area
The 11 districts only. Official tables labelled “Hampshire” usually mean this area and leave out Portsmouth and Southampton.
District and unitary councils
Each area’s own council: planning, housing, council tax, bins and local services. Portsmouth and Southampton also run schools, social care and public health.
NHS
All 13 areas sit in the NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board since north-east Hampshire (Rushmoor and part of Hart) moved from NHS Frimley on 1 April 2026. Hospital catchments do not match council boundaries, so trust performance is not shown as an area’s outcome.
Police
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary covers all 13 areas plus the Isle of Wight, overseen by an elected Police and Crime Commissioner.

Choose your council area

Each area’s page leads with its own most distinctive finding, chosen from the same measures by a published rule (see Sources and methods).

A boundary map is not shown: the site does not yet hold a verified council-boundary file, and an ordered comparison is more accurate for reading values.

Housing, pay, health and schools, area by area

How does each area compare on the same measure?

Claimant rate: from 1.8% in Hart to 4.5% in Portsmouth

People claiming Universal Credit or Jobseeker’s Allowance who are required to look for work, as a percentage of residents aged 16–64, August 2026. Not the unemployment rate.

Ceremonial Hampshire’s 13 council areas (11 districts, Portsmouth and Southampton) · August 2026
August 2026England 4.0%
  • Portsmouth4.5%
  • Southampton4.2%
  • Gosport3.6%
  • Havant3.3%
  • Rushmoor3.0%
  • Basingstoke and Deane2.7%
  • Eastleigh2.3%
  • New Forest2.3%
  • Winchester2.1%
  • East Hampshire2.1%
  • Fareham2.0%
  • Test Valley2.0%
  • Hart1.8%
Portsmouth has the highest claimant rate (4.5%) and Hart the lowest (1.8%); 2 of 13 areas are above England’s 4.0%. An administrative count, not unemployment: some claimants are in low-paid work and asked to look for more, and many unemployed people claim nothing. Not seasonally adjusted; the latest month is provisional.

Ceremonial Hampshire’s 13 council areas (11 districts, Portsmouth and Southampton) · August 2026 · Published statistics

Show the workings — Claimant rate: from 1.8% in Hart to 4.5% in Portsmouth
Geography:
Ceremonial Hampshire’s 13 council areas (11 districts, Portsmouth and Southampton)
Measure:
% of residents aged 16–64
Period:
August 2026
Status:
Published statistics
Calculation:
As published by the source.
Compare with:
England 4.0%, August 2026

Source: ONS Claimant Count via Nomis (NM_162_1, measure 2), Claimants as a proportion of residents aged 16–64.

View the data as a table
Area% of residents aged 16–64Period
Portsmouth4.5%August 2026
Southampton4.2%August 2026
Gosport3.6%August 2026
Havant3.3%August 2026
Rushmoor3.0%August 2026
Basingstoke and Deane2.7%August 2026
Eastleigh2.3%August 2026
New Forest2.3%August 2026
Winchester2.1%August 2026
East Hampshire2.1%August 2026
Fareham2.0%August 2026
Test Valley2.0%August 2026
Hart1.8%August 2026

The county at a glance — as ranges, not averages

No single county rate is calculated where the counts needed to pool it are not held. Each range names its lowest and highest area.

Population

1,922,408

Sum across all 13 authorities

Genuine total — every authority's own registered figure added together (13 of 13 published).

Economy

73.3%–87.6%

Range of employment rates (16–64)

Southampton lowest, Fareham highest. 13 of 13 authorities. Apr 2025-Mar 2026. No single county rate: pooling needs each area's employed and 16–64 population counts, which we do not hold.

Housing

£252,000–£467,500

Range of median house prices

Gosport lowest, Winchester highest. Shown as a range, not averaged — a mean of medians would not be a valid county median.

Crime

37.1–118.8

Range of police-recorded crime per 1,000 residents

Hart lowest, Southampton highest. 13 of 13 authorities. September 2025 to August 2026. police.uk street-level data, excluding anti-social behaviour; all 13 areas together: 70.6 per 1,000 (total crimes ÷ total residents). City-centre rates are inflated by visitors.

Education

12.7%–21.5%

Range of persistent absence rates

Hart lowest, Southampton highest (schools located in each area). 13 of 13 authorities. 2024/25. No single county rate: pooling needs each area's pupil enrolments, which we do not hold.

Hampshire County Council: schools and children’s services

Schools and children’s services for the 11 districts are run by Hampshire County Council, so these figures cover that area as a whole and exclude Portsmouth and Southampton, which publish their own.

MeasureValuePeriod
Children and young people aged 0–25 with an EHC plan20,499January 2026
NEET rate, 16–17-year-olds3.6%2026
Special-school places3,6122024/25
Mainstream school places194,2452024/25

Local house prices over 30 years

These are median prices paid for homes sold in Portsmouth, in the money of each year. They describe transactions, not the value of every home. Changes in the mix of properties sold can change the median.

Annual data: Portsmouth: median price paid, year ending December

Thirty December observations, 1996–2025, within the fixed 1996–2026 window. December 2026 is not yet available. The latest March 2026 rolling-year observation used elsewhere on the page is not substituted for a December observation. A dash means no comparable observation is supplied; it is not zero. Registered residential property transactions in this council area; not an inflation-adjusted or quality-adjusted house-price index.

1996–2026; £ thousands, nominal. No change is calculated across definition or assessment breaks.

Portsmouth: median price paid, year ending December; £ thousands, nominal
YearMedian price (£ thousands)
199648.3
199753
199857.1
199960
200073
200182
2002104
2003122
2004135
2005138
2006145
2007156
2008151.5
2009145
2010150
2011149
2012150
2013154
2014163.5
2015174
2016190
2017204.3
2018213.3
2019210
2020222.6
2021237.5
2022259
2023253
2024255
2025259
2026No comparable observations supplied

ONS original workbook, table 2a: median prices for administrative geographies

What residents understood about reorganisation

32% felt confident they understood the proposals in July 2025

FindOutNow surveyed 1,129 residents across Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight. This is a dated awareness measure from a wider geography than this site’s 13 council areas; it is not a vote for the later government decision.

Survey-based evidence
FindOutNow — commissioned by Hampshire County CouncilFieldwork: 23–29 July 2025Online quota survey · Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton and Isle of Wight residents
Published rounded share of surveyed residents, July 2025
  • Aware and confident they understood32%
  • Aware, but knew little41%
  • Unaware28%
Survey question, sample and limits

The awareness question asked whether respondents knew of proposed changes to local councils and how well they understood them. Hampshire County Council commissioned the online survey, conducted 23–29 July 2025, with quotas for age, gender and geography. The published report gives a total base of 1,129; it does not supply a response rate, effective weighted base or confidence intervals for these results. No probability-sample margin of error is inferred.

The published categories sum to 101% because they are rounded. They are shown as published, without recalculating a net awareness figure. Other questions tested the council’s then four-council proposal; those answers must not be treated as support for the government’s subsequent five-authority decision, which was withdrawn in September 2026. No comparable annual opinion series is held, and open consultation responses are not pooled with this quota survey.

Official survey report, methods and awareness results (PDF pages 2 and 4) · Hampshire County Council’s engagement methods

Adult social care findings belong to the council assessed

Hampshire County Council announced a CQC rating of Good on 9 October 2026, highlighting personalised care planning and support for independence. That assessment covers the county council’s adult social care duties in its 11 districts. It does not rate Portsmouth, Southampton, every care home or NHS services.

CQC’s 17 June 2026 assessment of Southampton was Requires improvement, with delays in assessments and reviews and weaknesses in assurance, alongside some good person-centred practice. Southampton assessment.

County council’s official announcement and link to the regulator’s report. This summary uses the council’s announcement; the full regulator report was not retrievable during this review.

Crime across the 13 areas

Police-recorded crime, street-level data from police.uk, September 2025 to August 2026

Police recorded 135,783 crimes across ceremonial Hampshire’s 13 council areas in these 12 months — 70.6 per 1,000 residents — plus 19,340 anti-social behaviour incidents, which are not crimes and are counted separately. Every area now has a figure for the same months from the same source.

How much crime is recorded in each area, per resident?

Recorded crime runs from 37.1 per 1,000 residents in Hart to 118.8 in Southampton

Police-recorded crimes (excluding anti-social behaviour) per 1,000 residents, September 2025 to August 2026. All 13 areas, the same 12 months.

Ceremonial Hampshire’s 13 council areas (11 districts, Portsmouth and Southampton) · September 2025 to August 2026
September 2025 to August 2026England 83.4 (ONS, year to March 2026)
  • Southampton118.8
  • Portsmouth112.5
  • Havant76.6
  • Rushmoor68.0
  • Gosport67.8
  • Basingstoke and Deane59.8
  • Eastleigh55.5
  • Winchester54.8
  • Test Valley52.6
  • Fareham52.2
  • New Forest51.6
  • East Hampshire41.8
  • Hart37.1
All 13 areas now share one source and one 12-month window, so they can be ranked — with care. 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.

Ceremonial Hampshire’s 13 council areas (11 districts, Portsmouth and Southampton) · September 2025 to August 2026 · Police management information (police.uk); not National Statistics

Show the workings — Recorded crime runs from 37.1 per 1,000 residents in Hart to 118.8 in Southampton
Geography:
Ceremonial Hampshire’s 13 council areas (11 districts, Portsmouth and Southampton) — residents, ONS mid-2025 estimates
Measure:
crimes per 1,000 residents
Period:
September 2025 to August 2026
Status:
Police management information (police.uk); not National Statistics
Calculation:
Crimes ÷ ONS mid-2025 resident population × 1,000. The 13-area figure (70.6) is total crimes ÷ total residents.
Compare with:
England 83.4 per 1,000 (ONS police recorded crime excluding fraud, year ending March 2026): a different source and year, shown for scale only.
Not included / breaks:
Fraud; crimes with no usable location (in ONS’s “Unassigned” row); anti-social behaviour (shown separately below).

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.

View the data as a table
AreaCrimesPer 1,000 residentsAnti-social behaviour incidentsASB per 1,000
Southampton30,787118.83,90215.1
Portsmouth23,794112.52,99514.2
Havant9,75276.61,40211.0
Rushmoor7,22368.01,0509.9
Gosport5,60467.899412.0
Basingstoke and Deane11,59659.81,93410.0
Eastleigh7,97855.51,44510.1
Winchester7,50254.88826.4
Test Valley7,14252.61,1118.2
Fareham6,02552.21,0278.9
New Forest9,08451.61,1826.7
East Hampshire5,46241.86905.3
Hart3,83437.17267.0
All 13 areas135,78370.619,34010.1

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Crime and anti-social behaviour, area by area

Ordered by crime rate. Rates are per resident, so city centres that draw many visitors look higher than the risk to residents (see above).

Police-recorded crime, street-level data from police.uk, September 2025 to August 2026: crimes, rates per 1,000 residents and anti-social behaviour incidents for the 13 areas
AreaCrimesPer 1,000 residentsLargest categoryAnti-social behaviourASB per 1,000
Southampton30,787118.8Violence and sexual offences (41%)3,90215.1
Portsmouth23,794112.5Violence and sexual offences (44%)2,99514.2
Havant9,75276.6Violence and sexual offences (49%)1,40211.0
Rushmoor7,22368.0Violence and sexual offences (44%)1,0509.9
Gosport5,60467.8Violence and sexual offences (51%)99412.0
Basingstoke and Deane11,59659.8Violence and sexual offences (48%)1,93410.0
Eastleigh7,97855.5Violence and sexual offences (48%)1,44510.1
Winchester7,50254.8Violence and sexual offences (43%)8826.4
Test Valley7,14252.6Violence and sexual offences (46%)1,1118.2
Fareham6,02552.2Violence and sexual offences (48%)1,0278.9
New Forest9,08451.6Violence and sexual offences (45%)1,1826.7
East Hampshire5,46241.8Violence and sexual offences (45%)6905.3
Hart3,83437.1Violence and sexual offences (47%)7267.0
All 13 areas135,78370.6—19,34010.1

How does recorded crime across the 13 areas move month by month?

About 11,300 crimes a month are recorded across Hampshire’s 13 areas

Police-recorded crimes per month, excluding anti-social behaviour, all 13 areas, September 2025 to August 2026.

Ceremonial Hampshire’s 13 council areas (the Isle of Wight, policed by the same force, is not included) · September 2025 to August 2026
Crimes per month05,00010,000Sep ’25Dec ’25Mar ’26Jun ’26Aug ’2612,246
The busiest month was July 2026 (13,253) and the quietest February 2026 (9,959). 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.

Ceremonial Hampshire’s 13 council areas (the Isle of Wight, policed by the same force, is not included) · September 2025 to August 2026 · Police management information (police.uk); not National Statistics

Show the workings — About 11,300 crimes a month are recorded across Hampshire’s 13 areas
Geography:
Ceremonial Hampshire’s 13 council areas (the Isle of Wight, policed by the same force, is not included)
Measure:
crimes per month
Period:
September 2025 to August 2026
Status:
Police management information (police.uk); not National Statistics
Calculation:
Sum of the 13 areas’ monthly police.uk counts.
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.

View the data as a table
MonthCrimes (excluding anti-social behaviour)Anti-social behaviour incidents
September 202511,1871,451
October 202511,2601,516
November 202510,8381,237
December 202510,2961,102
January 202610,5291,152
February 20269,9591,269
March 202611,4451,659
April 202610,9491,718
May 202611,9332,099
June 202611,8881,743
July 202613,2532,098
August 202612,2462,296

How this compares with the official statistics

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.

Recorded crimes, April 2025 to March 2026: police.uk street-level data against ONS police recorded crime excluding fraud, by Community Safety Partnership
ONS Community Safety Partnershippolice.ukONSDifference%
East Hampshire5,6085,640−32−0.6%
Eastleigh7,9407,856+84+1.1%
Fareham6,0115,997+14+0.2%
Gosport5,8955,953−58−1.0%
Havant9,4429,621−179−1.9%
New Forest9,1889,309−121−1.3%
North Hampshire (Basingstoke and Deane, Hart, Rushmoor)23,00123,385−384−1.6%
Portsmouth23,34624,163−817−3.4%
Southampton30,09031,147−1,057−3.4%
Test Valley7,0847,055+29+0.4%
Winchester7,5517,570−19−0.3%
All 13 areas135,156137,696−2,540−1.8%
Whole force incl. Isle of Wight (ONS adds 3,316 “unassigned” offences)145,564151,788−6,224−4.1%

April 2025 to March 2026. police.uk: crimes excluding anti-social behaviour, assigned by map point. ONS: total recorded crime excluding fraud. Source: ONS, Crime in England and Wales: Police force area data tables, year ending march 2026, tables C2 and P1 (released 23 July 2026).

Why the numbers differ

  • Fraud is in neither. ONS’s local police figures exclude fraud, and police.uk never shows it: fraud is reported nationally (to Action Fraud, now Report Fraud), not to the local force.
  • Crimes with no location. police.uk can only show crimes it can put on a map. ONS keeps the rest in the force total and in an “Unassigned Hampshire” row (3,316 offences in the year to March 2026). For Hampshire, police.uk lists no crimes “with no location”, so they are simply missing.
  • Approximate locations. police.uk moves each crime to an anonymised map point, such as the middle of a street or a park, to protect victims. This site counts a crime in the council area that point falls in. ONS uses the force’s own record of the area, so crimes near a boundary can land on different sides.
  • Sensitive crimes. police.uk publishes violence and sexual offences as one category, on privacy advice, and leaves off the map a crime whose location could identify someone.
  • Timing and revisions. police.uk is a monthly extract taken soon after each month ends. The Home Office data behind ONS are refreshed later, so crimes recorded late, reclassified or cancelled change one series and not the other. Category groupings also differ: police.uk counts more violence and weapons offences, and fewer drug and public-order offences, than ONS does for the same force and year.
  • Anti-social behaviour. police.uk also publishes anti-social behaviour incidents. They are not crimes, so this site shows them separately and never adds them to crime totals.
  • Status. police.uk is police management information, not National Statistics, and is not quality-assured to the same standard. The ONS series (official statistics, not accredited) remains the official measure; police.uk is used here because it gives every area the same months, monthly detail and categories.

Category totals differ more than overall totals because the two group offences differently: for the whole force, police.uk has +3.3% on violence and sexual offences and +17.2% on weapons, but −24.1% on drugs and −10.6% on public order. Compare categories only within one source.

National figures stay on the ONS and Crime Survey series: crime in England and Wales.

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.

Who holds the levers in Hampshire
IssueLocal councilCounty / combined authorityNHS and policeCentral government
Housing supply and affordabilityDistrict or unitary council: local plan, planning decisions, homelessness duty, its own council housing where heldHighways, schools and other infrastructure that sites need—MHCLG: national planning policy and housing targets; Homes England: affordable-housing funding
Work and benefitsDistrict or unitary council: local economic development and employment supportHampshire and the Solent Combined County Authority: adult skills (from August 2027) and strategic growthNHS: health-related support to stay in workDWP and Jobcentre Plus: Universal Credit and conditionality
School attendanceDistrict or unitary council: the local authority for schoolsHampshire County Council (11 districts) or the city council (Portsmouth, Southampton): attendance support under DfE’s statutory guidanceNHS: children’s mental health servicesDfE: funding and attendance policy; schools and academy trusts
Health and life expectancyDistrict or unitary council: housing standards, leisure, environmental healthHampshire County Council (11 districts) or the city council (Portsmouth, Southampton): public health duty and grantNHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB: commissioning; GP practices and trusts: careDHSC: NHS funding and public health grant
Crime and safetyDistrict or unitary council: Community Safety Partnership, licensing, CCTV—Police and Crime Commissioner: police plan and budget; Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary: operationsHome Office: police funding formula and law

Local commitments and status: reorganisation

A decision to replace the 13 councils with five unitary authorities was made in March 2026 and withdrawn on 7 September 2026. The current councils continue, and this page will change if the structure does.

Decision withdrawn; reorganisation under government review

On 25 March 2026 the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government decided, subject to Parliamentary approval, to replace the current two-tier structure across Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight with five new unitary councils from 1 April 2028. On 7 September 2026 the Secretary of State withdrew that decision following updated legal advice, and government launched a review of the whole reorganisation programme. Councils have been asked to stop implementation work, and the May 2027 local elections go ahead on existing boundaries. The existing 13 Hampshire authorities covered by this site continue to operate unchanged.

Timetable

  1. 5 Feb 2025Government invitation letter to councils to submit reorganisation proposals (final proposals deadline 26 Sept 2025).
  2. 19 Nov 2025Written ministerial statement; statutory public consultation opens on the submitted proposals.
  3. 11 Jan 2026Statutory consultation closes (ran seven weeks from 19 Nov 2025).
  4. 25 Mar 2026Secretary of State issues decision letter selecting the "Option 1A" five-unitary proposal.
  5. 31 Mar 2026Implementation letter sent to council chief executives.
  6. 7 Sep 2026Secretary of State withdraws the March decision following updated legal advice; government launches a review of the whole reorganisation programme and asks councils to stop implementation work.
  7. May 2027Local elections go ahead on existing council boundaries (confirmed in the 7 September 2026 withdrawal letter).

Proposals considered

Four unitaries (Hampshire County Council / East Hampshire District Council proposal)

Proposed by: Hampshire County Council and East Hampshire District Council

Mid North, West and South East Hampshire unitaries on the mainland, with the Isle of Wight unchanged.

Five unitaries ("Option 1")

Proposed by: Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, New Forest District Council and Test Valley Borough Council

North, Mid, South East and South West Hampshire unitaries on the mainland, with the Isle of Wight unchanged.

Five unitaries ("Option 1A") — selected in March 2026, decision since withdrawnSelected Mar 2026 · withdrawn

Proposed by: Eastleigh Borough Council, Fareham Borough Council, Hart District Council, Havant Borough Council, Portsmouth City Council, Rushmoor Borough Council and Southampton City Council

North, Mid, South East and South West Hampshire unitaries on the mainland (with parish-level boundary modifications to the "Option 1" geography — see below), with the Isle of Wight unchanged.

Five unitaries ("Option 2")

Proposed by: Winchester City Council

North, Mid, South East and South West Hampshire unitaries on the mainland (different boundary detail from Option 1/1A), with the Isle of Wight unchanged.

Geography decided in March 2026 — decision since withdrawn

  • North Hampshire Council

    Basingstoke and Deane, Hart and Rushmoor.

  • Mid Hampshire Council

    East Hampshire, New Forest, Test Valley and Winchester, less 11 parishes reassigned from those four areas to neighbouring new councils.

  • South East Hampshire Council

    East Hampshire (part), Fareham, Gosport, Havant and Portsmouth, plus 3 parishes from East Hampshire and 1 parish from Winchester.

  • South West Hampshire Council

    Eastleigh and Southampton, plus 4 parishes from New Forest and 3 parishes from Test Valley.

  • Isle of Wight Council

    Remains a separate unitary authority, unchanged by this decision.

Claimed benefits

  • Proposers argue a move from two-tier (county + district) to unitary structures removes duplication between Hampshire County Council and the district/borough councils, reducing the number of councils involved in local decision-making.
  • Proposers argue unitary councils can offer a single point of contact for residents across services currently split between county and district responsibilities.
  • Government and proposing councils have argued reorganisation supports the wider devolution agenda for the area.

Risks

  • Reorganisation of this scale carries significant one-off transition and implementation costs; no official total cost for the Hampshire reorganisation has been published, so none is given here and none is estimated.
  • Independent commentary and some non-selected proposers questioned whether the selected boundaries are the best fit for existing service footprints (e.g. health, police, education) that will not automatically realign with the new council boundaries.
  • Parish-level boundary splits within Option 1A (e.g. East Hampshire and Winchester parishes reassigned to different new councils) create local uncertainty for the specific communities affected until implementation detail is finalised.
  • The March 2026 decision was withdrawn on 7 September 2026 and no replacement timetable has been published, so councils and residents face a period of uncertainty about the future structure while the review runs.

Uncertainty

This panel reports the Secretary of State’s decision of 25 March 2026, and its withdrawal on 7 September 2026, as facts. It does not predict what the government’s review will conclude, and this site’s own authority pages, maps and data continue to reflect the current 13 authorities. No official source has published the cost, final boundary maps or transitional governance arrangements, so they are not stated here rather than approximated.

Sources

Panel last updated 2026-09-23.

Why it is happening

Our analysis

Local services are split between councils, the health service, police and national government. Responsibility for solving a problem may therefore sit with several bodies.

Read the options, evidence and limits below.

Who is affected most

Who feels this most?

Who feels the gaps most?

Men in Hart can expect 5.7 more years of life than men in Southampton

Period life expectancy at birth, males, three years pooled 2022 to 2024.

Ceremonial Hampshire’s 13 council areas (11 districts, Portsmouth and Southampton) · 2022 to 2024
2022–2024England 79.5 yrs
  • Hart83.7 yrs
  • Winchester82.4 yrs
  • East Hampshire82.3 yrs
  • Test Valley82.0 yrs
  • Eastleigh81.7 yrs
  • New Forest81.7 yrs
  • Basingstoke and Deane81.5 yrs
  • Fareham81.5 yrs
  • Rushmoor80.5 yrs
  • Havant80.1 yrs
  • Gosport79.0 yrs
  • Portsmouth78.1 yrs
  • Southampton78.0 yrs
Hart has the highest male life expectancy (83.7 yrs) and Southampton the lowest (78.0 yrs); 10 of 13 areas are above England’s 79.5 yrs. A summary of current death rates at each age, not a forecast for any individual. ONS publishes confidence intervals; observed ranks alone do not establish statistically distinct differences.

Ceremonial Hampshire’s 13 council areas (11 districts, Portsmouth and Southampton) · 2022 to 2024 · Published statistics

Show the workings — Men in Hart can expect 5.7 more years of life than men in Southampton
Geography:
Ceremonial Hampshire’s 13 council areas (11 districts, Portsmouth and Southampton)
Measure:
years
Period:
2022 to 2024
Status:
Published statistics
Calculation:
As published; male and female shown as separate measures.
Compare with:
England 79.5 yrs, 2022 to 2024

Source: ONS, Life expectancy for local areas of the UK: between 2001 to 2003 and 2022 to 2024, Life expectancy at birth, by sex.

View the data as a table
AreayearsPeriod
Hart83.7 yrs2022 to 2024
Winchester82.4 yrs2022 to 2024
East Hampshire82.3 yrs2022 to 2024
Test Valley82.0 yrs2022 to 2024
Eastleigh81.7 yrs2022 to 2024
New Forest81.7 yrs2022 to 2024
Basingstoke and Deane81.5 yrs2022 to 2024
Fareham81.5 yrs2022 to 2024
Rushmoor80.5 yrs2022 to 2024
Havant80.1 yrs2022 to 2024
Gosport79.0 yrs2022 to 2024
Portsmouth78.1 yrs2022 to 2024
Southampton78.0 yrs2022 to 2024

What could change

Proposals to consider. The bodies named below would need to agree to deliver them; responsibility is not a recorded commitment. Follow the links for costs and evidence.

  • Build a Hampshire plan around specific local needs and powers

    Choose a local housing, health or employment trial based on Hampshire’s needs. Give responsibility to the body with the powers and budget, and test the results.

    Who could deliver it: The relevant district, county or unitary council; NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB; the Police and Crime Commissioner; Hampshire and the Solent Combined County Authority — depending on the issue

    Main trade-off and funding

    Local pilots rarely have enough people to show an effect, and national programmes already operate here.

    Not yet costed / funding not identified

    What it would take and the evidence →

  • Give families in temporary accommodation a settled home

    Use social-housing funding to provide settled homes for families in temporary accommodation.

    Who could deliver it: Homes England and the GLA (awards), with councils and housing associations

    Budget 2026 responds to this

    Rough SleepingSocial and Affordable Homes ProgrammeTrack delivery →

    Main trade-off and funding

    Acquiring existing homes can add little to total supply and compete with first-time buyers.

    Programme funding exists; project allocation unconfirmed

    What it would take and the evidence →

  • Warm homes, inspected before payment

    Improve insulation, heating and ventilation for households most in need. Survey homes first and check the finished work.

    Who could deliver it: the energy department and MHCLG, with councils, landlords and accredited installers

    Main trade-off and funding

    Savings can be smaller than modelled and poor work can cause damp.

    Programme funding exists; project allocation unconfirmed

    What it would take and the evidence →

See all options and what is still unknown →

Some problems have no assessed solution yet: see coverage and gaps.

Help and rights

These links can help with an individual situation. They do not resolve the wider pressures described above.

Domain SWOT

Recorded

Show the findings
Strengths · 3 findings

  • Hampshire County Council reports a CQC rating of Good for its adult social care duties, highlighting personalised planning and support for independence. This is a council assessment, not a rating of all NHS or care-home services in ceremonial Hampshire.

    Hampshire County Council area (11 districts; excludes Portsmouth and Southampton) · Council announcement, 9 October 2026

  • Health and policing each have a single owner across the county: one NHS board (Hampshire and Isle of Wight, which north-east Hampshire joined on 1 April 2026) and one police force cover all 13 areas.

    Ceremonial Hampshire · From 1 April 2026

  • Local programmes already hold money: Connect to Work allocates £18.7m to Hampshire and £12.6m to the Solent area, and a Portsmouth-led consortium covering all 13 areas has a £34.8m Warm Homes: Local Grant.

    Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton (and the Isle of Wight) · 2025–26 to 2028–29 allocations

Weaknesses · 3 findings

  • CQC rated Southampton’s adult social care Requires improvement. Delayed assessments and reviews, incomplete information and weak assurance sat alongside some good person-centred practice. The finding belongs to Southampton, not all 13 council areas.

    Southampton City Council only · CQC assessment, 17 June 2026

  • Men’s life expectancy at birth was 83.7 years in Hart and 78.0 in Southampton — a 5.7-year gap inside one county.

    Ceremonial Hampshire · 2022–2024

  • A typical home costs from 6.8 times full-time resident earnings in Gosport to 10.5 in Winchester, against 7.4 for England.

    Hampshire council areas · Year ending Mar 2026 house price / 2025 earnings

Opportunities · 1 finding

  • Choosing one locally evaluated housing, prevention or employment pilot, owned by the body that holds the power, would turn county-wide gaps into something one organisation can be held to.

    Depends on: The pilot uses stable boundaries and matched denominators, involves residents, and is evaluated against a comparison before anyone scales it.

    our synthesis

Threats · 3 findings

  • The structure may change: the March 2026 decision to reorganise Hampshire’s councils was withdrawn on 7 September 2026 and is under government review, with May 2027 elections on existing boundaries. Proposed boundaries are not settled.

    risk

  • Small populations and survey estimates make local change hard to measure: some area rankings rest on overlapping confidence intervals, so a pilot can look successful or failed by chance.

    risk

  • Water and the sea are local risks now: in late September 2026 Southern Water was at drought level 1 in its Hampshire and Isle of Wight supply zones with temporary use bans in force, and in Portsmouth 8,077 homes and 704 commercial properties in Southsea are at risk from coastal flooding, which a coastal scheme funded in 2020 is being built to reduce.

    Hampshire and the Isle of Wight; Portsmouth (Southsea) · September 2026 (drought); scheme funded 2020 · risk

See the whole-UK SWOT →

Domain action plan

Proposed

Possible steps for government and the bodies responsible. These describe the order of work, not promised dates: starting an action and seeing results take different amounts of time.

  1. Short term · prepare

    Identify local needs and which authority holds the relevant powers.

  2. Medium term · deliver

    Connect local delivery with the linked national options.

  3. Long term · judge results

    Track local outcomes rather than assuming national averages apply.

Delivery steps and owners (4)
  1. Prerequisite: Pick one gap on stable boundaries and name the body that owns it · The relevant council or NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB · proposed
  2. Decision: Link local social-rent awards to households in temporary accommodation · District and city councils with Homes England · proposed
  3. Delivery: Survey and treat the least efficient low-income homes under the consortium grant, with checks after work · Portsmouth City Council (consortium lead) and partner councils · proposed
  4. Result: The chosen pilot’s outcome against its comparison; area gaps tracked on matched measures · Owning body; ONS and DWP statistics · proposed

Sources, method and changes

Shareable visual summary

Visual summary

Men’s life expectancy differs by nearly six years across Hampshire.

Male life expectancy at birth was 83.7 years in Hart and 78.0 in Southampton in 2022–2024. These are area estimates within ceremonial Hampshire, with their own confidence intervals. Employment (Apr 2025-Mar 2026) ranges from 73.3% in Southampton to 87.6% in Fareham. Area figures are not averaged into a county number.

Male life expectancy at birth, 2022–2024

  • 83.7 yearshighest: Hart
  • 78.0 yearslowest: Southampton
  • 5.7 yearsgap within ceremonial Hampshire

Each area’s estimate has an ONS confidence interval (not held here). Not a forecast for any resident.

Employment rate, ages 16–64

  • 73.3%lowest: Southampton
  • 87.6%highest: Fareham

Annual Population Survey estimates for small areas carry wide confidence intervals.

Persistent absence, by school location

  • 12.7%lowest: Hart
  • 21.5%highest: Southampton

Text and data version

Men’s life expectancy differs by nearly six years across Hampshire. Male life expectancy at birth was 83.7 years in Hart and 78.0 in Southampton in 2022–2024. These are area estimates within ceremonial Hampshire, with their own confidence intervals. Employment (Apr 2025-Mar 2026) ranges from 73.3% in Southampton to 87.6% in Fareham. Area figures are not averaged into a county number.

Records behind this visual summary
MeasureValuePeriodGeographyTypeSource
Male life expectancy at birth: highest (Hart)83.7 years2022–2024Hartobserved countONS life expectancy for local areas of the UK
Male life expectancy at birth: lowest (Southampton)78.0 years2022–2024Southamptonobserved countONS life expectancy for local areas of the UK
Gap in male life expectancy, highest minus lowest council areaCalculation: Hart 83.7 − Southampton 78.05.7 years2022–2024Ceremonial Hampshire (13 council areas)derived calculationONS life expectancy for local areas of the UK
Employment rate, ages 16–64: lowest (Southampton)73.3%Apr 2025-Mar 2026Southamptonsurvey estimateNomis
Employment rate, ages 16–64: highest (Fareham)87.6%Apr 2025-Mar 2026Farehamsurvey estimateNomis
Persistent absence rate: lowest (Hart)12.7%2024/25Hartsurvey estimateDfE Pupil absence in schools in England - Absence by school location
Persistent absence rate: highest (Southampton)21.5%2024/25Southamptonsurvey estimateDfE Pupil absence in schools in England - Absence by school location

Available images and their source records are listed on Shareable visuals.

Sources and methods (12)

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.