It feeds teams into the Men's and Women's England Hockey Leagues and takes teams from sub-regional (county) leagues, such as the Yorkshire Hockey Association.
As with most field hockey leagues, it has separate male and female competitions.
In the male competition, there are two separate Division 2s, split geographically into East and West.
For the female competition, there are four separate Division 2s, split geographically into North East, South East, South West and North West.
Promotion to, and relegation from, the regional 2nd Divisions occurs with the following feeder leagues: North Hockey Men's League Premier Division North Hockey Women's League Premier Division