Based on a latest survey of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to offload social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Growing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in the UK stated that 60% of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a significant number of councils seeking to raise money from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Planned Disposals
One local authority in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Strains
The survey of councils in the key cities group, which includes several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will proceed with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these require time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to add to the strains 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.”
National Trends and Projections
Research of county councils recently also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals needing Send support.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
Based on the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only one key city is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data highlights the extent of difficulties facing municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey found.