Based on a new poll of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in England reported that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and land to support their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils attempting to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to manage increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in Rochester to generate 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Fiscal Strains
The survey of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of councils will have to raise council taxes next spring to cover the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these take time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Forecasts
Research of county councils this week also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and older individuals needing Send support.
A network of councils said that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest deprivation measures (IMD) for English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the extent of challenges confronting local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the real levels of deprivation and need,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
