Local government facts and figures: England

• Isles of Scilly Council is the smallest local authority by population with 2,100 people as of 2021.
• Kent County Council is the largest local authority by population with 1,578,500 people as of 2021.
• The most changeable council is probably London Borough of Merton. Since 1964 control has passed between Labour, the Conservatives and no overall control several times. It is currently under Labour control.

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Local councils are made up of councillors (also called elected members) who are voted for by the public in local elections. They are supported by permanent council staff (called officers).

Councillors

Councillors are elected to represent people in a defined geographical area for a fixed term of four years, unless elected at a by-election in which case the time will be shorter. Councillors have to balance the needs and interests of residents, voters, political parties and the councils.

Councillors decide on the overall direction of policy. Council officers then implement these policy initiatives and are responsible for delivering services on a daily basis.

• Full Council – The full council is made up of all elected councillors, usually belonging to a range of different political parties. The full council debates and decides upon policy based on reports from the committees.
• Committees – Councillors on committees monitor and review the council’s performance and decision-making process in order to ensure it is accountable to the public. Information is provided to the committees by council officers. In councils without a cabinet (see below), power is exercised by the committees, made up of councillors in proportion to their party’s representation on the full council.
• Cabinet – A cabinet is like the government of the council, usually formed by the political party that has most elected representatives in full council. It is the only group which is allowed to make decisions on certain areas of policy without the approval of the full council. Each cabinet member usually looks over a specific area, e.g. environment, housing, adult social care, children’s services or culture. Between 2000 and 2011, most councils were required to have a ‘Leader and Cabinet’ model rather than a committee system. However, since the Localism Act 2011 allowed them to, some councils have switched back to a committee system.
• Leader or Elected Mayor – The political leader of a council is responsible for the overall performance of the council – as well as its strategic direction and its relationship with central government. The leader is elected by the rest of the council, and in the cabinet system the leader then appoints the cabinet members. The leader often sits on the Local Enterprise Partnership board. Elected mayors perform the same role, but are directly elected by the residents, rather than other councillors. (N.B. Elected mayors are different to unelected or lord mayors, whose jobs are largely ceremonial and don’t hold any powers).

Officers

Permanent staff perform many of the duties of the council. Lots of local authorities have a Chief Executive Officer, who oversees the management of the council. Underneath the Chief Executive, there will usually be a number of directorates or departments, e.g. finance, corporate services, children’s and adults’ services, housing etc.

The structure of local government varies from area to area, and region to region.

England

In most of England, there are two tiers – county and district – with responsibility for services split between the two tiers. County councils cover the entire county area and provide around 80 per cent of the services. Within the county, there are several district councils which cover a smaller area and provide more local services.

However London, other metropolitan areas and some parts of shire England operate under a single-tier council structure.

In total there are five possible types of local authority in England. These are:

1. County councils – cover the whole county and provide 80% of services in these areas, including children’s services and adult social care.
2. District councils – cover a smaller area within a county, providing more local services (such as housing, local planning, waste and leisure but not children’s services or adult social care); can be called district, borough or city council.
3. Unitary authorities – just one level of local government responsible for all local services, can be called a council (e.g. Medway Council), a city council (e.g. Nottingham City Council) or borough council (e.g. Reading Borough Council).
4. London boroughs – each of the 32 boroughs is a unitary authority.
5. Metropolitan districts – effectively unitary authorities, the name being a relic from past organisational arrangements. They can be called metropolitan borough or city councils.

Combined authorities

Since the establishment of Greater Manchester in 2011, groups of councils have formed combined authorities in some areas of England. These combined authorities receive additional powers and funding from central government. They are particularly important for transport and economic policy across the regions in which they are based. There are currently 10 combined authorities in England;

1. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough–  Mayor Dr Nik Johnson
2. Greater Manchester Combined Authority– Mayor Andy Burnham 
3. Liverpool City Region– Mayor Steve Rotherham 
4. North of Tyne Combined Authority – Mayor Jamie Driscoll
   
5. South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority – Mayor Oliver Coppard
6. Tees Valley Combined Authority– Mayor Ben Houchen 
7. West Midlands Combined Authority– Mayor Andy Street 
8. West of England Combined Authority – Mayor Dan Norris
9. North East Combined Authority– No directly elected mayor 
10. West Yorkshire Combined Authority– Mayor Tracy Brabin

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

All of Wales’ 22 authorities, Scotland’s 32 authorities and Northern Ireland’s 11 authorities are unitary – they operate a single-tier local government system.

Town, parish and community councils

In some parts of England, Wales and Scotland there is another layer of local government below these councils called parish (England), town (England) or community (Wales and Scotland) councils. These are responsible for services such as management of town and village centres, litter, verges, cemeteries, parks, ponds, allotments, war memorials and community halls. Scotland’s community councils have fewer powers than their counterparts in England and Wales.

There are around 10,000 such councils in England, 730 in Wales and 1200 in Scotland. There are none in Northern Ireland.

Source: House of Commons Library

As of the 2022 local elections, the Conservatives have the most councillors in England (42%), followed by Labour (31%) and the Liberal Democrats (15%).

Source: Institute for Government