Based on a latest poll of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of public land and land to shore up their finances, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and using savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Wider Financial Pressures
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase council taxes next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will proceed 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 taking creative strategies but some of these require time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
Research of county councils recently also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of young people and adults needing Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the report.
“Although only one key city is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of difficulties confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the real levels of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey found.
