Local Government: Elections

The date of elections to new unitary authorities will depend on the nature of proposals and progress on development of those proposals.

The position remains that elections to authorities specified in the Local Authorities (Changes of Years of Ordinary Elections) (England) Order 2025 will take place on the date to which they have been postponed, in May 2026.

Any local authority dissolved as a result of local government restructuring will cease to exist on the date specified in the legislation providing for that restructuring; that date will depend on the nature of proposals and progress on development of those proposals.

The arrangements for by-elections to councils whose elections have been postponed in May 2025 are as set out in the Explanatory Memorandum to the Local Authorities (Changes of Years of Ordinary Elections) (England) Order 2025:

“Vacancies arising in the six-month period prior to the May 2025 elections would ordinarily have been filled at the May 2025 elections rather than by by-elections. The requirement for by-elections to fill such vacancies is reinstated by the postponement and this ensures there are no long-term vacancies on a council. For clarity, the instrument specifies that such by-elections must take place in the period between the coming into force of the instrument on 4 March 2025 and 1 May 2025.”

That Explanatory Memorandum can be found here.

Vacancies arising after 1 May 2025 will be filled at by-elections in the usual way, with any vacancies arising in the six month period before the May 2026 elections being filled at those elections.