The 2022–23 season had no playoff phase, and no team was promoted to the Premiership as Jersey Reds did not meet the minimum standards criteria.

[7][8] The governing body for rugby union in England, the RFU, first allowed league hierarchies in 1987.

In November 2008, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) published a plan for a new professional tier below the Premiership.

The RFU Council voted overwhelmingly in favour of the new proposal, and the first Championship season started the following year, in 2009.

[14] The RFU plans to reintroduce possible promotion at the end of the 2023–24 season, by means of a play-off between the top placed team in the Championship and the bottom placed side in the Premiership.

Final standings were based on a "best playing record formula" and promotion and relegation remained for the 1st and 12th placed clubs respectively.

[17] In February 2021, a moratorium on relegation from the Premiership into the Championship was approved and it was confirmed that the RFU were working on a review of the minimum standards criteria for promotion and the league structure from 2021–22.