Based on a latest poll of local authorities, UK councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of councils are intending to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously come under fire for disposing of public land and land 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 high proportion of authorities seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would focus on service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to raise £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal 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 councils will have to raise council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
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 innovative approaches but certain measures take time to deliver both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He added: “There are population challenges which will persist to increase 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.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities this week further found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and older individuals needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to manage increased demand.
Government officials have delayed planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (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 rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“While only one key city is among the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures highlights the scale of difficulties confronting municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” stated a council leader.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the study revealed.
