The split of powers and functions meant that the Greater London Council was responsible for "wide area" services such as fire, ambulance, flood prevention, and refuse disposal; with the boroughs (including Hammersmith and Fulham) responsible for "personal" services such as social care, libraries, cemeteries and refuse collection.

[8] The council was involved in a landmark English administrative law case in 1991, Hazell v Hammersmith and Fulham LBC, which ruled that local authorities had no power to engage in interest rate swap agreements because they were beyond the council's borrowing powers.

[9] In 2021 the council was said by the Housing Ombudsman to be the worst performing landlord in the country with regard to damp and mould in its properties.

It is a local education authority and is also responsible for council housing, social services, libraries, waste collection and disposal, traffic, and most roads and environmental health.

Political control of the council since 1965 has been as follows:[13] The role of Mayor of Hammersmith and Fulham is largely ceremonial.

[16] The building has been closed since 2019 whilst being refurbished as part of the development of a new 'Civic Campus' around it, which has included the demolition of the council's former main offices which had been built in front of the Town Hall in 1974/5.