Most of us will be familiar with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, UK Parliament and the British Government.
However, there’s also a type of government much closer to home for you to think about: your local government.
Local governments – called councils or local authorities – are responsible for a host of essential services and even housing, which is why we vote for our chosen representative in local elections.
How they work differs slightly across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Here’s what you need to know.
How do local governments work in England?
Like most local governments in the UK, English councils are responsible for social care and work in areas such as transport, housing, education, and public services for local areas.
There are 333 local authorities in England in total.
Many parts of England have two tiers of local government: county councils and district, borough or city councils.
County councils are responsible for the kinds of services that can be found across the whole county.
That includes schools, transportation services, city/town planning, fire and public safety, social care, libraries, waste management and trading standards.
District, borough and city councils are responsible for smaller areas, taking responsibility for council tax collections, housing, planning applications and recycling/rubbish collection.
In some parts of the country, there is just one tier of local government, providing all the local services listed above.
The three main types of one tier local government are unitary authorities in shire areas, London boroughs and metropolitan boroughs.
In London and metropolitan areas some services, like fire, police and public transport, are provided through ‘joint authorities’ (in London by the Greater London Authority).
The voting age for local elections in England, including mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections, is 18.
How do local governments work in Wales?
Wales is divided into 22 local authorities, focused around delivering local services.
They are all unitary authorities led by a leader and cabinet elected by the council itself.
The key responsibilities of local councils in Wales include:
- Education
- Housing
- Social services
- Highways and transport
- Waste management
- Leisure and cultural services (including libraries, leisure services and arts venues)
- Environmental health and services
- Planning (including managing local development and making sure buildings are safe)
- Economic development and tourism
- Emergency planning
Councils provide some services directly, or work in partnership with other organisations to provide others, meaning they can commission organisations in the private and voluntary sectors to provide services on their behalf.
Welsh Councils also work with public service partners such as fire and rescue authorities, police and crime commissioners and the National Park Authorities National Resources Wales (NRW).
In Wales, councillors are elected to single and multi-member wards using first past the post, and councils come up for election as a whole every four years.
In 2020, the Welsh government extend the local government voting age to 16 and 17-year-olds.
How do local governments work in Scotland?
There are 32 directly elected local authorities or councils in Scotland, and they are all unitary authorities.
Scottish councils are led by a council leader and cabinet as well as a provost – a ceremonial figurehead – chosen from and elected by their councillors.
The function and powers of Scottish government are not dissimilar to English and Welsh local governments, in that they manage key services such as schooling, social care, housing and transport.
They also deal with economic development, recreation services, trading standards, environmental health and issue licences for taxis and public houses.
Councils generally have to act within the Scottish government policy, even if it something that they do not necessarily agree with.
This has led to a launch of a local governance review in Scotland that is seeking to give more power to local government to better improve public services.
Councillors are elected to multi-member wards via single transferable vote, a proportional voting system which allows voters to rank candidates. – The voting age in Scotland has been anyone aged 16 and above since 2015.
How do local governments work in Northern Ireland?
Local government in Northern Ireland works slightly differently than it does in England, Wales and Scotland.
It is much more limited, with the 11 local councils responsible for neighbourhood services such as waste collection and street cleaning., but they are not responsible for education, social care and libraries.
They are responsible for local development plan functions, environmental protection, tourism initiatives, health and safety, social entrepreneurship, managing heritage sites and the running of sport, leisure and cultural facilities.
As in Scotland and Wales, all of Northern Ireland’s councils are unitary authorities – councillors are elected via single transferable vote to multi-member electoral area.
The voting age is 18 for all election in Northern Ireland.
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