Sabden became a civil parish in 1904, when it was formed from the township of Heyhouses, parts of the six parishes of Goldshaw Booth, Higham with West Close Booth, Northtown and Read, all in the Burnley Rural District, and from Pendleton and Wiswell in the Clitheroe Rural District.
The village is in the single member Sabden Ward of the Ribble Valley Borough Council [REF].