A list of terms about devolution and local government reorganisation and their meanings.
As outlined by UK Government, ALBs are a specific category of central government public bodies that are administratively classified by the Cabinet Office.
A Combined County Authority is a combined authority that enables devolution to areas with two-tier local government. While there are many similarities to a Combined Authority, a key difference is that a CCA’s membership must consist solely of upper-tier local authorities (county councils, unitary county councils and unitary district councils).
Local authorities within a Combined Authority geography.
Chaired by the Prime Minister, this forum brings together First Ministers of the Devolved Governments, the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland,
and the Mayors of Strategic Authorities to collaborate across the national missions.
The functions and governance arrangements for each level of Strategic Authority that will be put into legislation through the forthcoming English Devolution Bill.
Areas ready to come together under sensible geography criteria set out in the White Paper and wishing to progress the creation of a Mayoral Strategic Authority to an accelerated timescale. This will be with a view to inaugural mayoral elections in May 2026.
In England, devolution is the transfer of powers and funding from national to local government. It is important because it ensures that decisions are made closer to the people, communities and businesses they affect.
The English Devolution White Paper is the Government’s statement of their plans to reform local government. This includes a wide range of proposals on devolution but also wider plans for local government reorganisation and changes to local audit.
Will include non-mayoral combined authorities and combined county authorities, and any local authority designated as a Strategic Authority without a Mayor.
A consolidated budget across housing, regeneration, local growth, transport, skills, retrofit and employment support.
This is a forum bringing together a representative group of local authority leaders with the Deputy Prime Minister and other Ministers so that local leaders have a seat at the table in government and policy solutions can be co-designed with local government.
The process in which the structure and responsibilities of local authorities are reconfigured. In the context of the English Devolution White Paper, the Government have set out plans to move away from the current two-tier system of district and county councils. The Government has indicated that for most areas this will mean creating councils with a population of 500,000 or more, but there may be exceptions to ensure new structures make sense for an area, including for devolution, and decisions will be on a case-by-case basis.
The directly elected leader of a geographical region. Many areas of England already have Mayors, including London, Greater Manchester, and West Yorkshire. There are also directly elected mayors covering single unitary councils.
A combined authority is a legal body set up using national legislation that enables a group of two or more councils to collaborate and take collective decisions across council boundaries. You can find out more about this in the LGA’s publication Combined Authorities: A Plain English Guide. Under the new proposals, it is expected that Combined Authorities will be replaced by Strategic Authorities.
This is a forum bringing together England’s Mayors and is chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister, pushing the frontier on devolution, feeding back on how best to deliver on the ground, and identifying opportunities to better coordinate national and local policy.
Integrates senior data leaders from Mayoral Strategic Authorities into central decision-making on data issues that affect them. It will champion better use of data, as well as improve data sharing. It will input into the Mayoral Council and the central government digital and data function.
Will include the Greater London Authority, all Mayoral Combined Authorities and all Mayoral Combined County Authorities will automatically begin as Mayoral Strategic Authorities.
As outlined by UK Government, it is a formally established organisation funded to deliver a public or government service, though not as a ministerial department. The term refers to a wide range of public sector entities.
As outlined by UK Government, it is a formally established organisation funded to deliver a public or government service, though not as a ministerial department. The term refers to a wide range of public sector entities.
The process of merging local councils into a single unitary council.
Unitary authorities are a single tier of local government responsible for all local services in an area. They may cover a whole county, part of a county or a large town or city. For example, Cornwall Council, Nottingham City Council and Reading Borough Council are all unitary councils. Large urban areas may have a unique form of unitary authorities called metropolitan councils, such as Oldham or Doncaster. London boroughs are also unitary authorities.
As outlined by UK Parliament, ‘white papers are policy documents produced by the Government that set out their proposals for future legislation.’