According to a recent poll of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and retail spaces as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of local authorities are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.
This coalition said that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would prioritise restructuring services and using savings to weather growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent said its property management strategy featured the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to raise local levies next April to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures require time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “There are population challenges which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities this week further found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest deprivation measures (IMD) covering English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the scale of difficulties facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
