Mergers of Coroner Areas
There are currently 77 coroner areas in England and Wales.
The Chief Coroner and the Ministry of Justice have a joint long-term plan to reduce this to around 75.
Area mergers are always considered whenever the opportunity arises, invariably when a senior coroner retires.
Merging two or more areas leads to a more consistent and standardised service for bereaved families, and results in more coroner areas being of the same size and population.
All mergers that have taken place have been achieved through consensus and agreement.
1 April 2024 – North Lincolnshire & Grimsby; and Lincolnshire (to be known as Greater Lincolnshire) (external link)
North Northumberland; and South Northumberland (to be known as Northumberland) (external link)
1 October 2023 – North Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent; and South Staffordshire (PDF)
1 April 2023 – Newcastle and North Tyneside; and West Sussex, Brighton and Hove (external link)
1 April 2022 – North Yorkshire and York (external link)
1 April 2020 – Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton (external link)
1 August 2018 – Teesside and Hartlepool (external link)
1 December 2017 – Lancashire and Blackpool with Darwen (external link)
1 August 2017 – Lincolnshire (external link)
1 April 2016 – Cornwall (external link)
1 April 2016 – Somerset (external link)
1April 2016 – South Wales Central (external link)
1 August 2015 – Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (external link)
2 April 2015 – Liverpool and Wirral (external link)
1 January 2015 – Cumbria (external link)