England
The London boroughs, metropolitan boroughs and non-metropolitan districts (including most unitary authority, unitary authorities) are divided into wards for local elections. However, county council elections (as well as those for several unitary councils which were formerly county councils, such as the Isle of Wight Council, Isle of Wight and Shropshire Council, Shropshire Councils) instead use the term ''electoral division''. In shire county areas with both wards (used for district council elections) and electoral divisions (used for county council elections), the boundaries of the two types of divisions may sometimes not coincide, but more often the county electoral divisions will be made up of one or more complete wards. In urban areas, the wards within a local authority area typically each contain roughly the same number of electors, and each elect three councillors. In local authorities with mixed urban and rural areas, the number of councillors may vary from one to three, depending on the size of the electorate. Where civil parishes exist, a ward can be adjacent with a civil parish or consist of groups of civil parishes. Larger civil parishes (such as Shrewsbury) can be divided into two or more wards.City of London
The City of London has its own ''sui generis'' form of local government and is divided into wards, which are ancient and very long-standing sub-divisions of the city.Isles of Scilly
The Council of the Isles of Scilly is also a ''sui generis'' unitary authority, hand as five wards, each returning either 1 or (in the case of St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, St Mary's) 12 councillors to the Council of the Isles of Scilly.Civil parishes
Civil parishes in England are sometimes divided into wards for elections to the parish councils in England, parish council (or Town council, town/Municipal council, city council). They need not bear any relation to wards or electoral divisions at district level, but often do.Historic use
The four most northerly Historic counties of England, ancient counties of England – Cumberland, Westmorland, County Durham and Northumberland – were historically divided into administrative units called wards instead of Hundred (county subdivision), hundreds or wapentakes, as in other counties. Wards were areas originally organised for military purposes, each centred on a castle.Wales
In Wales, the term ''electoral ward'' is used for elections to Principal areas of Wales, principal councils (county council or county borough council). This change replaced the term ''electoral division''. Community (Wales), Communities in Wales (the equivalent to the civil parish in England) are sometimes divided into wards for elections to the community council.Scotland
All of Scotland is divided into over 300 wards for local government elections. Using the single transferable vote, most wards elect either three or four councillors. Starting from the 2022 Scottish local elections, the Scottish Elections (Reform) Act 2020, allows electoral wards to have between one and five councillors.Northern Ireland
Districts in Northern Ireland are divided into electoral areas, with each electing between five and seven councillors by single transferable vote. These are themselves sub-divided into wards, but these wards have no official function.See also
* List of electoral wards in England by constituency * List of electoral wards in WalesReferences
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