Unitary authorities of England

Unitary authority area
Category	Local authority districts
Location	England
Found in	Regions
Number	62 (as of 2023)
Possible types	Coterminous non-metropolitan county and non-metropolitan district (56) Non-metropolitan district of Berkshire (6)
Possible status	City Royal borough Borough
Populations	40,000–600,000

This article is part of a series within the Politics of the United Kingdom on the
Politics of England
The Crown Monarch: Charles III Heir Apparent: William, Prince of Wales Republicanism in the United Kingdom
Governance King-in-Council: Charles III Prime Minister: Keir Starmer (L) Deputy Prime Minister: Angela Rayner (L)
Legislative King-in-Parliament: Charles III House of Lords Lord Speaker: The Lord McFall of Alcluith Reform of the House of Lords House of Commons Speaker: Sir Lindsay Hoyle MPs for England Constituencies Regional Affairs Committee
Elections UK General Elections in England 1801 co-option 1802 1806 1807 1812 1818 1820 1826 1830 1831 1832 1835 1837 1841 1847 1852 1857 1859 1865 1868 1874 1880 1885 1886 1892 1895 1900 1906 1910 (Jan) 1910 (Dec) 1918 1922 1923 1924 1929 1931 1935 1945 1950 1951 1955 1959 1964 1966 1970 1974 (Feb) 1974 (Oct) 1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015 2017 2019 2024
Judiciary King-on-the-Bench: Charles III Supreme Court President: The Lord Reed of Allermuir High Court of Justice Courts English Law
Regions East of England London East Midlands West Midlands North East North West South East South West Yorkshire and the Humber
Administration History Subdivisions Historic Counties Ceremonial Counties Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties Metropolitan county Non-metropolitan county Greater London Unitary authorities (list) Districts (list) Metropolitan Borough Non-metropolitan District London Borough Combined authorities Mayoral Council for England Civil parishes (list)
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In England, a unitary authority or unitary council^[1][2] is a type of local authority responsible for all local government services in an area. They combine the functions of a non-metropolitan county council and a non-metropolitan district council, which elsewhere in England provide two tiers of local government.

The district that is governed by a unitary authority is commonly referred to as a unitary authority area^[3][4] or unitary area.^[2][5] The terms unitary district and, for those which are coterminous with a county, unitary county are also sometimes used.^[6][7][8][9] The term unitary authority is also sometimes used to refer to the area governed, such as in the ISO 3166-2:GB standard defining a taxonomy for subdivisions of the UK,^[10] and in colloquial usage.^{[11][12][13][14]}

Unitary authorities are constituted under the Local Government Act 1992, which amended the Local Government Act 1972 to allow the existence of non-metropolitan counties that do not have multiple districts. Most were established during the 1990s, with more created in 2009 and 2019–23. The size of the areas governed by unitary authorities varies greatly; the authorities created in the 1990s were generally created from single districts and covered a single large town or city, while those created since 2009 often cover entire non-metropolitan counties.

In addition to the authorities created under the 1992 act, the term unitary authority has also been used in a broader sense that is inclusive of all single-tier councils, such as those for London boroughs and metropolitan boroughs.^[15][11]