Start with this distinction
There is no useful modern list of regions that do not use the 11 Plus because most local authorities have no area-wide grammar-school selection. A better way to answer the question is to identify where selection still exists, then check your own council and target school.
The Department for Education distinguishes highly selective local authorities from authorities with some selection. Everywhere else is broadly comprehensive for state secondary admissions, although independent schools may still use their own entrance tests.
Areas with extensive grammar-school selection
Examples of highly selective authorities include Buckinghamshire, Kent, Medway, Trafford, Wirral, Lincolnshire, Bexley, Sutton, Slough, Torbay and Southend-on-Sea. In these places, grammar schools form a noticeable part of the local secondary landscape.
Even here, the testing systems are not interchangeable. Kent Test results, for example, are not simply a national 11 Plus certificate valid everywhere.
Areas with some selective schools
Other authorities contain one or more grammar schools without operating a fully selective local system. Examples include Birmingham, Barnet, Redbridge, Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Essex, Reading, Liverpool and parts of Lancashire.
A family can therefore live in a mainly comprehensive area and still choose to apply to a selective school.
Five examples of major areas without an area-wide 11 Plus
Large parts of Greater Manchester outside Trafford, most of London outside boroughs with selective schools, much of Yorkshire, large parts of the North East and many counties in the South and South West have no authority-wide grammar-school test.
The exact school matters more than the regional label. A border can also be misleading: families sometimes sit a neighbouring authority’s test and apply across council boundaries.
What if you apply outside your council area?
You normally apply for the school through your home local authority’s secondary-school form, while separately registering for any required entrance test with the testing authority or school.
The CAF process is explained in this guide.
What do non-selective areas use instead?
Comprehensive schools allocate places using published oversubscription criteria such as looked-after status, sibling links, catchment, distance, feeder schools, faith criteria where lawful, or other permitted rules. They do not use an 11 Plus score simply because the child is moving into Year 7.
Independent schools are different and may set Common Entrance, ISEB-style assessments, interviews or their own tests. See our guide to alternative assessments.
How to check your child’s exact situation
Search the target school’s admissions policy for September 2027 entry, then check the local authority’s secondary admissions booklet. Look for the words selective, grammar, entrance test, registration deadline and oversubscription criteria.
Do this before summer ends in Year 5. Some selective-test registration windows close well before the national secondary application deadline.
