It was then governed by a body formally called the "mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Sunderland", generally known as the corporation or town council.

In 2024 a combined authority was established covering Sunderland, County Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland and South Tyneside, called the North East Combined Authority.

It is chaired by the directly elected Mayor of the North East and oversees the delivery of certain strategic functions across the area.

[14] [15] There are civil parishes at Hetton, Burdon and Warden Law, of which only Hetton has a parish council, which form an additional tier of local government for their areas; the rest of the borough is unparished.

[28] Prior to that the council was based at the Civic Centre on Burdon Road, which had been built in 1970.

[30] The Civic Centre in turn had replaced the old borough council's headquarters at the Town Hall on Fawcett Street which had been built in 1890 and was demolished shortly after the council moved to the Civic Centre.