Quick Plain English Overview of How a Council Works

​Local councils make decisions that affect everyday life — from planning and transport to adult social care, children’s services, and local spending.
This site explains how Solihull Council works: who holds power, how decisions are made, what scrutiny is meant to do, and where accountability can break down.
While examples are drawn from Solihull Council, the structures and processes described here apply to most borough, metropolitan, and county councils in England, particularly those facing full elections in 2026.

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How Solihull Council works (in plain English) Local councils make decisions that affect everyday life — but the way they work is rarely explained clearly.

This page gives a quick, plain-English overview of how Solihull Council works, who actually holds power, and where accountability is meant to sit.

While this uses Solihull Council as the example, the same structure applies to most councils in England.

1. What Solihull Council is Solihull Council is a metropolitan borough council. That means it is responsible for most local services in the area, including:

• adult social care
• children’s services
• housing and homelessness
• planning and highways
• waste, libraries, and local spending

Councillors are elected by residents to make decisions on behalf of the borough.

2. Who residents actually electAt local elections, you do not elect the council’s managers or officers.
You elect councillors.
From those councillors:

• one group forms the administration (the controlling political group)
• a Leader of the Council is chosen
• a small number of councillors become the Cabinet

Most power sits with the Leader and Cabinet, not with all councillors equally.

​3. The Mayor: important — but limited
​Solihull has a Mayor, but this is largely a ceremonial role.
The Mayor:

• chairs Full Council meetings
• represents the borough at events

The Mayor does not run the council and does not set policy.

You said you were fixing them , well you've missed one!!

4. How decisions are really made
​Most major decisions are made:

• by the Cabinet, or
• by individual Cabinet members using delegated powers

Full Council meetings:

• debate policy
• set the budget
• vote on some major issues

But many operational decisions never reach Full Council.
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5. Officers: paid, professional, and powerful
​The day-to-day running of Solihull Council is done by paid senior officers, not councillors.
Key figures include:

• the Chief Executive
• service Directors
• Statutory Officers (such as the Monitoring Officer and the finance officer)

Officers:

• advise councillors
• implement decisions
• control reports, procedures, and timing

They are not elected, but they wield significant influence.

​6. Scrutiny: what it’s meant to do
​Scrutiny committees are meant to:

• challenge decisions
• question Cabinet members and officers
• examine evidence
• represent the public interest

In theory, scrutiny is how power is checked and balanced.
In practice, scrutiny depends heavily on:

• political will
• how much information is shared
• whether challenge is genuinely allowed

An overview of how Solihull Council works — click to explore the full dashboard.

​7. Public involvement: limited but realMembers of the public can:

• attend meetings (in person or online)
• submit questions
• propose motions via councillors
• make deputations (formal statements)

However:

• time is limited
• answers can be controlled
• debate can be curtailed

Understanding the rules matters.

8. Why elections matterLocal elections decide:

• who controls the Cabinet
• who chairs scrutiny committees
• whether challenge is possible

Even when a councillor or motion loses a vote, how they voted is recorded — and that record matters later.

In short

• You elect councillors, not officers
• Power sits mainly with the Leader and Cabinet
• Officers run services day-to-day
• Scrutiny is supposed to challenge power — but doesn’t always
• Elections shape what is possible for the next four years

Where to go next

• Who runs the council?
• How decisions are made
• Scrutiny and challenge
• What you can do as a resident

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