Councils in England: Types of Council and how LGR could change them

• How many local authorities are there in England?
• The primary types of councils in England
• What does LGR mean for UK councils?
• Want to learn more about LGR?
• FAQs

England has 317 local authorities in total, made up of five different types of council. The table below shows the split. The count of 62 unitary authorities refers only to unitary councils outside London and the metropolitan areas. The wider single-tier total is higher, because it also includes London boroughs, metropolitan districts and the two sui generis councils. The Institute for Government puts the single-tier total at 132 unitary local authorities.

Source: LGIU, Local government facts and figures: England. 

County councils

County councils are responsible for wider-area services like education, transport, social care and waste disposal across the entire county. There are 21 of them in England. Between them they provide around 80% of the services in the areas they cover.

District, borough and city councils

District councils cover a smaller area than county councils. They handle local services such as council tax collection, housing, waste collection and planning permission. A district council is usually the counterpart to a county council in the same area. Together, the two are known as a two-tier authority.

Unitary authorities

A unitary authority is a single-tier council that handles all local government services for its area. England has 62 unitary authorities outside London and the metropolitan areas. Explore our guide to unitary authorities.

London boroughs

London has 32 boroughs, and each one has its own council. The Greater London Authority (GLA) sits above them and is responsible for transport, policing, fire and rescue, planning and housing across the capital. The City of London is separate from the boroughs.

Parish and town councils

Parish and town councils operate at a level below district and borough councils. They are not included in the 317 local authorities. They can look after local issues such as public clocks, bus shelters and community centres.

What is the difference between unitary, county and district councils?

The main difference between unitary, county and district councils is their size and the services they offer to the local area. A county council covers the whole county and runs the larger services. A district council covers a smaller patch and runs the everyday local services. A unitary council does both jobs within its own boundary.

Local government reorganisation (LGR) is the move from two-tier county and district structures to single unitary authorities. That plan now has a question mark over it. On 7 September 2026, the government announced a review of the programme. The decisions for Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk and Suffolk were withdrawn, 14 other decisions were paused, and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and West Sussex were brought into the review. Surrey's two new unitary authorities are not affected, and the government says they remain due to go live in April 2027. There is no fixed timeline for the review.

Sources: Trowers & Hamlins, MHR Global, Constructionmagazine.uk. 

Whatever happens to the timetable, the operational work of merging councils is the same. Councils that do merge face the same set of payment flows to move across:

• Consolidating council tax, business rates (NNDR) and housing rent payments into one system
• Managing risk in payroll, Direct Debit migrations and supplier payments during the switch
• Keeping Bacs payment runs running without interruption during the change

Those are the areas where a merger tends to go wrong, so they are worth planning for even while the programme is under review.

You now know the five types of council in England, how many of each there are, and why the structure is in flux. If you want to go further, our complexity guide to LGR looks at what changes behind the scenes when councils merge.

Access PaySuite helps local authorities navigate LGR.