There is no promotion and relegation between the National League and the Women's British Basketball League, which operates a franchise system, although teams seeking greater competition and exposure can apply to make the step from NBL to the WBBL.

When it was founded in 2003, the women's EBL consisted of two levels of competition; a nationalized Division 1, closely matching the WNBL Conference which existed under the previous structure, and a regionalized Division 2, originally split into North and South conferences.

From the 2007/2008 season onwards, Division 2 was split into three regions to allow for the greater number of clubs applying for national competition.

[2] As a result, the most established and successful clubs in women's basketball in the United Kingdom are no longer part of the NBL.

Initially, the NBL's women's leagues retained the original regionalised structure of the old Division 2, which meant only the end-of-season playoffs offering the opportunity for clubs from across the whole of England to compete against each other.