# Subdivisions of England

The subdivisions of England constitute a hierarchy of administrative divisions and non-administrative ceremonial areas.
Overall, England is divided into nine regions and 48 ceremonial counties, although these have only a limited role in public policy. For the purposes of local government, the country is divided into counties, districts and parishes. In some areas, counties and districts form a two-tier administrative structure, while in others they are combined under a unitary authority. Parishes cover only part of England.
The current system is the result of incremental reform which has its origins in legislation enacted in 1965 and 1972.

## Administrative

England has a non-universal structure of local government subdivisions. There are two tiers of local government subdivision - (administrative) counties and districts (known as boroughs in London).
Different local divisions exist across England:
* Tier structure:
** County tier
** District tier
* Authority structure:
** Combined authority and Greater London Authority
** Unitary authority, Metropolitan borough and London borough
The authority structure is slowly replacing the tier structure and metropolitan boroughs with all the metropolitan boroughs in combined authorities and periodic abolitions of the tier structure councils into unitary authority councils.

### Tiers

The 1974 reform of local government established the tier structure throughout England with county authorities in metropolitan and Greater London also existing, 1986 reform abolished these. From the 1996 reform the structure's use has been declining, 21 tiered areas remain out of the original 48. The county tier provides the majority of services, including education and social services while the 164 district-tier councils have a more limited role.

### Authorities

As of April 2023, there are 62 unitary authorities. Unitary authorities have control of their areas functioning. There is a general push towards the reorganisation of English local government to the authority structure, often reorganisation is a condition of new devolution powers. 46 unitary authorities were created from the 1996 reform, nine more were created in 2009, followed by further changes in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023. The Greater London administrative area was created in 1965 with 32 boroughs, excluding the City of London. Six Metropolitan two-tiered areas were created in 1974, similar to the Greater London model. These county-tier councils had extra devolved powers to others. In 1986, the county-tier was abolished with the London boroughs, Metropolitan boroughs and combined boards remaining. Apart from status these boroughs have the same powers to unitary authorities.
Combined authorities operate the opposite way round to the county in a tier structure, the combined authority acts on what the unitary authorities have agreed upon to focus on and what powers have been given by central government. In 2000, the Greater London Authority was created with an elected Mayor of London and the London Assembly. In 2010, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority was created with a similar modal to the GLA a with further combined authorities based on the GMCA created. As of June 2023, 10 combined authorities and the Greater London Authority currently exist.

### Other
#### Sui generis

The Isles of Scilly are governed by a sui generis local authority called the Council of the Isles of Scilly. The authority was established in 1890 as the Isles of Scilly Rural District Council. It was renamed but otherwise unreformed by the changes in local government that occurred in 1974 in the rest of England outside Greater London. Although effectively a unitary authority, for example it is an education authority, the Isles of Scilly are part of the Cornwall ceremonial county and combine with Cornwall Council for services such as health and economic development.
The ancient City of London forms a 33rd division and is governed by the City of London Corporation, a sui generis authority unlike any other in England that has largely avoided any of the reforms of local government in the 19th and 20th centuries.

#### Civil parishes

The civil parish is the most local unit of government in England. A parish is governed by a parish council or parish meeting, which exercises a limited number of functions that would otherwise be delivered by the local authority. There is one civil parish in Greater London (Queen's Park, in the City of Westminster), and not all of the rest of England is parished. The number of parishes and total area parished is growing.

## Non-administrative
### Regions

At the highest level, all of England is divided into nine regions that are each made up of a number of counties and districts. These "government office regions" were created in 1994, and from the 1999 Euro-elections up until the UK's exit from the EU, they were used as the European Parliament constituencies in the United Kingdom and in England's European Parliament constituencies.
The regions vary greatly in their areas covered, populations and contributions to the national economy. All have the same status, except London which has substantive devolved powers.
There was a failed attempt to create elected regional assemblies outside London in 2004 and since then the structures of regional governance (regional assemblies, regional development agencies and local authority leaders' boards) have been subject to review. Following the change of government in 2010, these were scheduled for abolition by 2012.

### Ceremonial and historic counties

For non-administrative purposes, England is wholly divided into 48 ceremonial counties. These are used for the purposes of appointing Lords Lieutenant who are the Crown's representatives in those areas as well as a way of grouping non-metropolitan counties. They are taken into consideration when drawing up Parliamentary constituency boundaries. Ceremonial counties are commonly named after historic counties, the ceremonial county acts as an in between for the administrative boundaries and long established areas used in fields such as sport.

### Titles, non-metropolitan and metropolitan counties

County-tier councils and each unitary authority are separate non-metropolitan counties, each non-metropolitan county can be known as a district, city or borough. Berkshire is an anomaly in this arrangement whereby its districts became unitary authorities, the non-metropolitan county remain to keep the title of Royal county, in the same way the metropolitan county remained when the county-tier councils were abolished. Each correspond to an administrative body.
Non-metropolitan districts can also be a borough, city or district. Unitary authority areas are joint non-metropolitan counties and non-metropolitan districts.

## Lists
### Regions

| Type | Region |
| Set up | 1994 |
| No | 9 |
| Units | East of England East Midlands London North East North West South East South West West Midlands Yorkshire and the Humber |

### Non-metropolitan (two-tier)

| Type | Non-metropolitan county | Non-metropolitan district |
| Set up | 1974 | 1974 |
| No | 21 | 164 |
| Units | Cambridgeshire Derbyshire Devon East Sussex Essex Gloucestershire Hampshire Hertfordshire Kent Lancashire Leicestershire Lincolnshire Norfolk Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Staffordshire Suffolk Surrey Warwickshire West Sussex Worcestershire | List of districts |

### Metropolitan

| Type | County | Borough |
| Set up | 1974 | 1974 |
| No | 6 | 36 |
| Units | Greater Manchester | Bolton Bury Manchester Oldham Rochdale Salford Stockport Tameside Trafford Wigan |
| Units | Merseyside | Knowsley Liverpool Sefton St Helens Wirral |
| Units | South Yorkshire | Barnsley Doncaster Rotherham Sheffield |
| Units | Tyne and Wear | Gateshead Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside South Tyneside Sunderland |
| Units | West Midlands | Birmingham Coventry Dudley Sandwell Solihull Walsall Wolverhampton |
| Units | West Yorkshire | Bradford Calderdale Kirklees Leeds Wakefield |

### London

| Type | London borough | Sui generis |
| Set up | 1965 | in antiquity |
| No | 32 | 1 |
| Units | Barking and Dagenham Barnet Bexley Brent Bromley Camden City of Westminster Croydon Ealing Enfield Greenwich Hackney Hammersmith and Fulham Haringey Harrow Havering Hillingdon Hounslow Islington Kensington and Chelsea Kingston upon Thames Lambeth Lewisham Merton Newham Redbridge Richmond upon Thames Southwark Sutton Tower Hamlets Waltham Forest Wandsworth | City of London |
| Total | 33 | 33 |

### Unitary authorities

| Type | Set up | No | Units |
| County gained district functions | 2023 | 2 | North Yorkshire Somerset |
| District(s) gained county functions | 2023 | 2 | Cumberland Westmorland and Furness |
| District(s) gained county functions | 2021 | 2 | North Northamptonshire West Northamptonshire |
| District(s) gained county functions | 2020 | 1 | Buckinghamshire |
| District(s) gained county functions | 2019 | 2 | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Dorset |
| County gained district functions | 2009 | 5 | Cornwall Durham Northumberland Shropshire Wiltshire |
| District(s) gained county functions | 2009 | 4 | Bedford Central Bedfordshire Cheshire East Cheshire West and Chester |
| District(s) gained county functions | 1998 | 21 | Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Bracknell Forest Halton Herefordshire Medway Nottingham Peterborough Plymouth Reading Slough Southend-on-Sea Stoke-on-Trent Swindon Telford and Wrekin Thurrock Torbay Warrington West Berkshire Windsor and Maidenhead Wokingham |
| District(s) gained county functions | 1997 | 11 9 | Bournemouth Brighton and Hove Derby Darlington Leicester Luton Milton Keynes Poole Portsmouth Rutland Southampton |
| District gained county functions | 1996 | 13 | Bath and North East Somerset Bristol East Riding of Yorkshire Hartlepool Kingston upon Hull Middlesbrough North East Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire North Somerset Redcar and Cleveland South Gloucestershire Stockton-on-Tees York |
| County gained district functions | 1995 | 1 | Isle of Wight |
| Sui generis | 1890 | 1 | Isles of Scilly |
| Total | Total | 63 | |

### Civil parishes

* List of civil parishes in England

### Hierarchical list of regions, strategic authorities, counties and districts

| Region | Strategic authority | Ceremonial county | Metropolitan or non-metropolitan county | Districts May also hold borough and/or city status |
| East of England | | Essex | 1. Thurrock U.A. | 1. Thurrock U.A. |
| 2. Southend-on-Sea U.A. ||
| East of England | | Essex | 3. Essex † | a) Harlow, b) Epping Forest, c) Brentwood, d) Basildon, e) Castle Point, f) Rochford, g) Maldon, h) Chelmsford, i) Uttlesford, j) Braintree, k) Colchester, l) Tendring |
| East of England | | 4. Hertfordshire † | 4. Hertfordshire † | a) Three Rivers, b) Watford, c) Hertsmere, d) Welwyn Hatfield, e) Broxbourne, f) East Hertfordshire, g) Stevenage, h) North Hertfordshire, i) St Albans, j) Dacorum |
| East of England | | Bedfordshire | 5. Luton U.A. | 5. Luton U.A. |
| 6. Bedford U.A. ||
| 7. Central Bedfordshire U.A. ||
| East of England | Cambridgeshire and Peterborough | Cambridgeshire | 8. Cambridgeshire † | a) Cambridge, b) South Cambridgeshire, c) Huntingdonshire, d) Fenland, e) East Cambridgeshire |
| 9. Peterborough U.A. ||
| East of England | | 10. Norfolk † | 10. Norfolk † | a) Norwich, b) South Norfolk, c) Great Yarmouth, d) Broadland, e) North Norfolk, f) Breckland, g) King's Lynn and West Norfolk |
| East of England | | 11. Suffolk † | 11. Suffolk † | a) Ipswich, b) East Suffolk, c) Babergh, d) Mid Suffolk, e) West Suffolk |
| East Midlands | East Midlands | Derbyshire | 1. Derbyshire † | a) High Peak, b) Derbyshire Dales, c) South Derbyshire, d) Erewash, e) Amber Valley, f) North East Derbyshire, g) Chesterfield, h) Bolsover |
| 2. Derby U.A. ||
| East Midlands | East Midlands | Nottinghamshire | 3. Nottinghamshire † | a) Rushcliffe, b) Broxtowe, c) Ashfield, d) Gedling, e) Newark and Sherwood, f) Mansfield, g) Bassetlaw |
| 4. Nottingham U.A. ||
| East Midlands | | Lincolnshire (part only) | 5. Lincolnshire † | a) Lincoln, b) North Kesteven, c) South Kesteven, d) South Holland, e) Boston, f) East Lindsey, g) West Lindsey |
| East Midlands | | Leicestershire | 6. Leicestershire † | a) Charnwood, b) Melton, c) Harborough, d) Oadby and Wigston, e) Blaby, f) Hinckley and Bosworth, g) North West Leicestershire |
| 7. Leicester U.A. ||
| 8. Rutland U.A. |||
| East Midlands | | Northamptonshire | 9. West Northamptonshire U.A. | 9. West Northamptonshire U.A. |
| 10. North Northamptonshire U.A. ||
| London | Greater London Authority | 1. Greater London | none | a) City of Westminster, b) Kensington and Chelsea, c) Hammersmith and Fulham, d) Wandsworth, e) Lambeth, f) Southwark, g) Tower Hamlets, h) Hackney, i) Islington, j) Camden, k) Brent, l) Ealing, m) Hounslow, n) Richmond, o) Kingston upon Thames, p) Merton, q) Sutton, r) Croydon, s) Bromley, t) Lewisham, u) Greenwich, v) Bexley, w) Havering, x) Barking and Dagenham, y) Redbridge, z) Newham, aa) Waltham Forest, ab) Haringey, ac) Enfield, ad) Barnet, ae) Harrow, af) Hillingdon |
| London | Greater London Authority | 2. City of London | none | City of London |
| North East | North East | 1. Northumberland U.A. | 1. Northumberland U.A. | 1. Northumberland U.A. |
| North East | North East | 2. Tyne and Wear * | 2. Tyne and Wear * | a) Newcastle upon Tyne, c) North Tyneside |
| North East | North East | 2. Tyne and Wear * | 2. Tyne and Wear * | b) Gateshead, d) South Tyneside, e) Sunderland |
| North East | North East | Durham | 3. County Durham U.A. | 3. County Durham U.A. |
| North East | Tees Valley | Durham | 4. Darlington U.A. | 4. Darlington U.A. |
| 5. Hartlepool U.A. ||
| 6. Stockton-on-Tees U.A. ||
| North East | Tees Valley | North Yorkshire (part only) | 6. Stockton-on-Tees U.A. | 6. Stockton-on-Tees U.A. |
| 7. Redcar and Cleveland U.A. ||
| 8. Middlesbrough U.A. ||
| North West |
| North West | | Cumbria | 1. Cumberland U.A. | 1. Cumberland U.A. |
| 2. Westmorland and Furness U.A ||
| North West | | Lancashire | 3. Lancashire † | a) West Lancashire, b) Chorley, c) South Ribble, d) Fylde, e) Preston, f) Wyre, g) Lancaster, h) Ribble Valley, i) Pendle, j) Burnley, k) Rossendale, l) Hyndburn |
| 4. Blackpool U.A. ||
| 5. Blackburn with Darwen U.A. ||
| North West | Greater Manchester | 6. Greater Manchester * | 6. Greater Manchester * | a) Bolton, b) Bury, c) Manchester, d) Oldham, e) Rochdale, f) Salford, g) Stockport, h) Tameside, i) Trafford, j) Wigan |
| North West | Liverpool City Region | 7. Merseyside * | 7. Merseyside * | a) Knowsley, b) Liverpool, c) St. Helens, d) Sefton, e) Wirral |
| North West | Liverpool City Region | Cheshire | 8. Halton U.A. | 8. Halton U.A. |
| North West | | Cheshire | 9. Warrington U.A. | 9. Warrington U.A. |
| 10. Cheshire West and Chester U.A. ||
| 11. Cheshire East U.A. ||
| South East | | 1. Berkshire ‡ | 1. Berkshire ‡ | a) West Berkshire U.A., b) Reading U.A., c) Wokingham U.A., d) Bracknell Forest U.A., e) Windsor and Maidenhead U.A., f) Slough U.A. |
| South East | | Buckinghamshire | 2. Buckinghamshire U.A. | 2. Buckinghamshire U.A. |
| 3. Milton Keynes U.A. ||
| South East | | East Sussex | 4. East Sussex † | a) Hastings, b) Rother, c) Wealden, d) Eastbourne, e) Lewes |
| 5. Brighton & Hove U.A. ||
| South East | | Kent | 6. Kent † | a) Dartford, b) Gravesham, c) Sevenoaks, d) Tonbridge and Malling, e) Tunbridge Wells, f) Maidstone, g) Swale, h) Ashford, i) Folkestone and Hythe, j) Canterbury, k) Dover, l) Thanet |
| 7. Medway U.A. ||
| South East | | 8. Oxfordshire † | 8. Oxfordshire † | a) Oxford, b) Cherwell, c) South Oxfordshire, d) Vale of White Horse, e) West Oxfordshire |
| South East | | 9. Surrey † | 9. Surrey † | a) Spelthorne, b) Runnymede, c) Surrey Heath, d) Woking, e) Elmbridge, f) Guildford, g) Waverley, h) Mole Valley, i) Epsom and Ewell, j) Reigate and Banstead, k) Tandridge |
| South East | | 10. West Sussex † | 10. West Sussex † | a) Worthing, b) Arun, c) Chichester, d) Horsham, e) Crawley, f) Mid Sussex, g) Adur |
| South East | | Hampshire | 11. Hampshire † | a) Fareham, b) Gosport, c) Winchester, d) Havant, e) East Hampshire, f) Hart, g) Rushmoor, h) Basingstoke and Deane, i) Test Valley, j) Eastleigh, k) New Forest |
| 12. Southampton U.A. ||
| 13. Portsmouth U.A. ||
| 14. Isle of Wight U.A. |||
| South West | | Dorset | 1. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole U.A. | 1. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole U.A. |
| 2. Dorset U.A. ||
| South West | | Somerset | 3. North Somerset U.A. | 3. North Somerset U.A. |
| 4. Somerset U.A. ||
| South West | West of England | Somerset | 5. Bath and North East Somerset U.A | 5. Bath and North East Somerset U.A |
| 6. Bristol U.A. |||
| South West | West of England | Gloucestershire | 7. South Gloucestershire U.A. | 7. South Gloucestershire U.A. |
| South West | | Gloucestershire | 8. Gloucestershire † | a) Gloucester, b) Tewkesbury, c) Cheltenham, d) Cotswold, e) Stroud, f) Forest of Dean |
| South West | | Wiltshire | 9. Swindon U.A. | 9. Swindon U.A. |
| 10. Wiltshire U.A. ||
| South West | | Devon | 11. Devon † | a) Exeter, b) East Devon, c) Mid Devon, d) North Devon, e) Torridge, f) West Devon, g) South Hams, h) Teignbridge |
| 12. Torbay U.A. ||
| 13. Plymouth U.A. ||
| South West | | Cornwall | none | 14. Isles of Scilly sui generis U.A. |
| 15. Cornwall U.A. ||
| West Midlands | | 1. Herefordshire U.A. | 1. Herefordshire U.A. | 1. Herefordshire U.A. |
| West Midlands | | Shropshire | 2. Shropshire U.A. | 2. Shropshire U.A. |
| 3. Telford and Wrekin U.A. ||
| West Midlands | | Staffordshire | 4. Staffordshire † | a) Cannock Chase, b) East Staffordshire, c) Lichfield, d) Newcastle-under-Lyme, e) South Staffordshire, f) Stafford, g) Staffordshire Moorlands, h) Tamworth |
| 5. Stoke-on-Trent U.A. ||
| West Midlands | | 6. Warwickshire † | 6. Warwickshire † | a) North Warwickshire, b) Nuneaton and Bedworth, c) Rugby, d) Stratford-on-Avon, e) Warwick |
| West Midlands | West Midlands | 7. West Midlands * | 7. West Midlands * | a) Birmingham, b) Coventry, c) Dudley, d) Sandwell, e) Solihull, f) Walsall, g) Wolverhampton |
| West Midlands | | 8. Worcestershire † | 8. Worcestershire † | a) Bromsgrove, b) Malvern Hills, c) Redditch, d) Worcester, e) Wychavon, f) Wyre Forest |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | South Yorkshire | 1. South Yorkshire * | 1. South Yorkshire * | a) Sheffield, b) Rotherham, c) Barnsley, d) Doncaster |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | West Yorkshire | 2. West Yorkshire * | 2. West Yorkshire * | a) Wakefield, b) Kirklees, c) Calderdale, d) Bradford, e) Leeds |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | York and North Yorkshire | North Yorkshire (part only) | 3. North Yorkshire U.A. | 3. North Yorkshire U.A. |
| 4. York U.A. ||
| Yorkshire and the Humber | | East Riding of Yorkshire | 5. East Riding of Yorkshire U.A. | 5. East Riding of Yorkshire U.A. |
| 6. Kingston upon Hull U.A. ||
| Yorkshire and the Humber | | Lincolnshire (part only) | 7. North Lincolnshire U.A. | 7. North Lincolnshire U.A. |
| 8. North East Lincolnshire U.A. ||
| | Combined authority | † Two-tier non-metropolitan county | † Two-tier non-metropolitan county | Non-metropolitan district |
| | Combined authority | ‡ Royal non-metropolitan county (no county council) | ‡ Royal non-metropolitan county (no county council) | Unitary authority district that is not a county |
| U.A. Unitary authority area (non-metropolitan county and district) |||
| | Combined authority | * Metropolitan county (no county council) | * Metropolitan county (no county council) | Metropolitan district |
| | Greater London Authority | | | London borough or City of London |