Understand the authority behind the contact
Local Government is the dataset Oscar Research has held and maintained the longest, and it remains the most structurally complex market we cover. There is no single template for a UK Council: structures differ across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and even between neighbouring areas of England. Our research reflects that complexity rather than flattening every authority into one list of names and job titles.
The database covers elected Councillors, senior and mid-level management posts and key functional positions across all UK Councils, as well as Police and Fire Services, Parks, Transport, Combined Authorities and wider Strategic Authorities.
- Unitary Authorities
- Metropolitan Councils
- London Boroughs
- County Councils
- English District Councils
- Strategic and Combined Authorities
- Police and Fire Services
- Parks and Transport Authorities
- Senior and mid-level officers
- Elected councillors
How UK Councils are structured
Following the major re-organisation of 1995, Scotland and Wales merged their District and County Councils into single Unitary Authorities providing all Council functions. England retained a mixture: single-tier authorities (Unitary, Metropolitan and London Boroughs) alongside two-tier areas where responsibilities are split between County Councils and English District Councils. Further re-organisation from 2007 onwards has continued to replace County and District pairings with single Unitary Councils.
This matters commercially. In a two-tier area, the organisation responsible for Housing is not the organisation responsible for Education, so a campaign aimed at the wrong tier reaches the wrong buyer.
How functions vary between authority types
| |
Single Tier |
Two Tier |
| Function |
Metropolitan |
London Boroughs |
Unitary |
County |
English District |
| Education | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – |
|---|
| Environmental Health | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ |
|---|
| Highways | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – |
|---|
| Housing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ |
|---|
| Libraries | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – |
|---|
| Planning | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ |
|---|
| Recreation / Leisure | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ |
|---|
| Refuse Collection | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ |
|---|
| Refuse Disposal | – | – | ✓ | ✓ | – |
|---|
| Social Care | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – |
|---|
A tick indicates that the authority type is normally responsible for delivering that function.
Strategic Authorities, Combined Authorities and Devolution
The structure of Local Government in England continues to evolve as more powers and funding are devolved from Central Government to larger strategic areas. Strategic Authorities bring neighbouring Councils together to coordinate priorities that are best planned across local authority boundaries.
These arrangements include Mayoral Combined Authorities, Combined County Authorities, the Greater London Authority and other forms of Strategic Authority. Their responsibilities can vary by area and devolution settlement, but commonly extend across:
- Transport and local infrastructure
- Skills and employment
- Housing, regeneration and strategic planning
- Economic development and regional growth
- Environment, energy and net zero
- Health and public service reform
- Public safety, resilience and community priorities
For organisations working with the public sector, this means that purchasing, investment and policy decisions may sit with an individual Council, a Combined or Strategic Authority, an elected Mayor or another regional body. Oscar Research tracks these changing structures and the decision-makers within them, helping customers understand both who delivers services locally and where strategic responsibility sits across a wider region.
Departments behave like separate organisations
Council functions are divided into departments, with smaller District Councils typically running two to three and Metropolitan, Unitary, County and Borough Councils running four to five. Councils operate within rules set by Central Government but have real autonomy over how they organise themselves, so no two are arranged identically.
In larger authorities it is often best to treat departments as separate organisations. They frequently sit at different addresses and hold their own purchasing, finance and corporate functions – which is why Oscar records department names, locations and functional responsibility rather than relying on a headquarters address and a job title.
Who holds the budget
Local Authorities are funded through a combination of local tax revenue, Central Government grants, retained Business Rates, investments and reserves, plus local charges. Understanding where funding sits, and which tier or department controls it, is central to targeting the right decision-maker.
Political control of Councils
Overall control – most commonly a single political party holds a majority of Councillors and therefore controls the Council.
No overall control – where no party holds a sufficient majority, two or more parties may share power through a coalition or working arrangement.
Non-political – a small number of Councils operate without official political groups. Committee chairs and cabinet posts are shared, and the Chairman of the Council carries significant influence.
Executive Mayors – a number of Councils are led by directly elected or Executive Mayors who provide much more direct political direction to the Council's work.
Oscar records the political control of each Council alongside the affiliation of each individual Councillor, so you can isolate audiences as specific as Conservative councillors sitting on Labour-controlled authorities.
Find the Local Government audience relevant to you
Tell us the functions, authority types or decision-makers you need to reach and we can help identify the most appropriate Oscar selection.
Request a Free Local Government Data Sample
Who can you reach across Local Government?
Oscar Research covers officers and elected representatives, allowing customers to target both the people responsible for delivering services and the politicians responsible for policy and oversight.
- Chief Executives
- Corporate and Top Directors
- Second Tier and Heads of Service
- Finance
- Procurement and Commissioning
- IT and Digital
- HR and Workforce
- Estates and Property
- Planning
- Housing
- Social Care
- Education
- Highways and Transport
- Environmental Services
- Council and Group Leaders
- Cabinet Members
- Committee Chairs and Vice Chairs
Officers and Councillors are different audiences
Local Government Officers are employed by the Council to run the organisation. They co-ordinate and deliver services and, in most instances, purchase and commission goods and services. Oscar covers all Chief Executives, Corporate and Top Directors and Second Tier / Heads of Service posts, plus approximately 10,000 key functional and departmental positions.
Local Government Councillors are politicians elected to take policy decisions; they are not usually involved in technical decisions or matters of detail. The most influential are Council and Group Leaders, Cabinet Members and the Chairs and Vice Chairs of the committees overseeing major Council functions.
Councillors' home addresses and telephone numbers are normally provided, except where the individual or the Local Authority has asked for all mail to be sent to an official address – common for Leaders and Cabinet Members who spend much of their time at the town hall.
Each Councillor is categorised by their own political affiliation and by the political control of the Council on which they sit, so you can isolate audiences such as all Conservative councillors on Labour-controlled Councils. Retirement and re-election dates, and the date first elected (where after 1993), are also recorded, along with the Cabinet role or committee function that identifies the member responsible for a given service area.
Functional targeting at depth
The Oscar Local Government dataset carries nearly 600 functional categories across officers and Councillors, helping customers identify highly specific responsibilities rather than relying on job titles alone. Department names and staff numbers are also recorded, and the number of contacts and depth of information is constantly expanded as new functions and statutory positions emerge.
Looking for something specific?
If you need Procurement Directors in Unitary Authorities, Heads of Housing in District Councils, Cabinet Members for Adult Social Care or another precise audience, tell us what you are trying to reach and we can help build the right selection.
Run Bespoke Counts
Discuss Your Requirements
How Oscar Research maintains its Local Government data
Local Government is the dataset we have researched for longer than any other, and that continuity is the point. We have tracked UK Councils through the 1995 re-organisation, the creation of Unitary Authorities, the arrival of Combined and Strategic Authorities and Executive Mayors, and every boundary review and election cycle in between. The structural knowledge built over that period is what sits behind each record.
Oscar Research does more than compile Council names and job titles. Our Local Government Database is built through ongoing telephone and desk research into authority structures, departments, functions, officers and elected representatives – verified with the Councils themselves rather than scraped from directories.
Structure matters
Responsibility for services differs between Unitary, Metropolitan, London Borough, County and District Councils. Oscar's research reflects these structural differences so customers can identify the organisation and department actually responsible for a function.
Responsibility matters more than title
Council job titles and departmental structures vary significantly. Oscar uses extensive functional categorisation to identify equivalent responsibilities across differently organised authorities.
Officers and Councillors are researched differently
Officers are categorised according to their organisational and functional responsibilities, while Councillors can also be profiled by political affiliation, Council control and Cabinet or Committee responsibilities.
Continuously researched
Our Local Government data is continually reviewed and updated as part of Oscar Research's wider research programme. Researchers cycle and review the underlying data every 4–6 months, while the live counts on this page are recalculated every 24 hours using our latest research.
Research Processes
Database Delivery
Talk to Us
