The leader of the county council is currently Deborah Taylor, who has been serving as acting leader of the County Council since July 2024 in the place of Nick Rushton, who was elected to the post in September 2012 and is currently undergoing cancer treatment.

[3] The headquarters of the council is County Hall beside the A50 at Glenfield, just outside the city of Leicester in Blaby district.

Elected county councils were created under the Local Government Act 1888, taking over many administrative functions that had previously been performed by magistrates at the quarter sessions.

[8] Much of the county is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.

[17] The council is based at County Hall in Glenfield, on the outskirts of Leicester but just outside the city boundary in the Blaby district.

As of December 2015, these are: social care for adults and children; support for schools; highways and transport; public health; waste disposal; economic development; libraries and museums; strategic planning; trading standards; country parks; registration of births, marriages and deaths; and community leadership.