About the Report

This living document brings together emerging Combined Authorities, Mayoral Combined Authorities, Unitary proposals, shadow authorities and structural reorganisations into a single evolving view.

The report combines official announcements, election timelines, vesting dates, impacted authorities and ongoing proposal activity to help suppliers, public sector organisations and advisors understand how the local government landscape is changing over time.

As proposals evolve, elections are confirmed and structures become operational, the tracker will continue to be updated to reflect the latest intelligence from across the sector.

Background

Unitary Councils vs District and County Councils:

England’s traditional two-tier local government structure has historically separated responsibilities between county councils and district or borough councils. County councils typically oversee large-scale services such as education, highways, social care, and waste disposal, while district councils manage more localised functions including planning, housing, environmental health, and refuse collection. This model emerged largely from reforms introduced under the Local Government Act 1972, which reorganised local government across England and Wales from 1974 onwards. Over recent decades, however, governments of different political colours have increasingly promoted the creation of unitary authorities — single councils responsible for all local government services within their area. The argument for unitary structures centres on simplification, clearer accountability, reduced duplication, and stronger strategic leadership. Early waves of unitarisation occurred in the 1990s and 2000s, creating authorities such as Cornwall, Durham, Wiltshire, and Cheshire East. The current programme represents one of the largest restructurings of English local government in a generation, with many county and district systems now being replaced by larger unitary councils intended to support financial sustainability, devolved powers, and more integrated service delivery.

Combined Authorities – Purpose, History and Context:

Combined Authorities were introduced to allow groups of neighbouring councils to collaborate formally across wider economic and geographic areas, particularly where issues such as transport, skills, housing, infrastructure, and economic growth extend beyond individual council boundaries. They were established through the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, initially focused on improving regional coordination following the abolition of regional development agencies and earlier regional governance structures. The first major Combined Authority was the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, created in 2011 and widely seen as the model for English devolution. Since then, Combined Authorities have expanded significantly, particularly through successive “devolution deals” negotiated between central government and local areas. Their role is typically strategic rather than operational — coordinating long-term investment, transport planning, economic development, regeneration, skills programmes, and inward investment across multiple council areas. More recently, Combined County Authorities (CCAs) have emerged as a variation designed primarily for county and rural geographies, where the urban metropolitan model of earlier Combined Authorities was considered less suitable. The reforms shown in this dataset reflect the continued expansion of this devolved regional governance model across England.

The Transition from Combined Authorities to Mayoral Combined Authorities:

A major evolution in English devolution has been the move from standard Combined Authorities towards directly elected Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs). This shift accelerated after the government’s Northern Powerhouse and Levelling Up agendas, which linked greater devolved powers and funding to the adoption of a directly elected regional mayor. Under the mayoral model, a single elected figure provides strategic leadership across the wider region, often overseeing transport, investment funds, housing, regeneration, skills, and economic growth. The government’s rationale has been that mayors provide clearer accountability, stronger national visibility, and a single point of leadership for negotiations with Whitehall and investors. Existing examples include Greater Manchester Combined Authority, West Midlands Combined Authority, and Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. The transition noted throughout this dataset — where several Combined Authorities are expected to become Mayoral Combined Authorities between 2027 and 2028 — reflects the broader direction of English local governance. Increasingly, government funding settlements, transport powers, and long-term devolution agreements are being tied to the presence of an elected mayoral structure. In practice, this means many areas are moving beyond collaborative governance arrangements towards more formalised regional leadership models with expanded powers and greater political visibility.