According to a new poll of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to sell social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in England stated that 60% of councils 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 selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition said that a high proportion of councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in southeast England said its property management strategy featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club 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 generate rent for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Pressures
This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to raise council taxes next April to address the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority explained it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to achieve both improved services and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “We face population challenges 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 2010-24, which is very challenging.”
National Patterns and Projections
A survey of county councils this week further found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a white paper setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for English councils, many participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“Although only one key city is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data highlights the scale of challenges confronting municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened care services in the past 12 months, the study found.
