Based on a new study of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for major urban areas in the UK reported that 60% of councils are planning to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have in the past come under fire for disposing of playing fields and land to support their finances, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a high proportion of councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of holdings represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in another town to generate 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Pressures
This research of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will need to increase council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council said it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these take time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities recently also found local finances being strained by the growing number of young people and adults needing Send support.
A network of councils said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those changes has been postponed.
Deprivation and Financial Gaps
Based on the most recent deprivation measures (IMD) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“While only one key city is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures underscores the scale of challenges facing municipal officials across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that reflects and addresses the real levels of deprivation and need,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, 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.
