Based on a recent survey of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of public land and land to shore up their budgets, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders said they would focus on service redesigns and utilising savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England said its property management strategy included the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for Medway council, will also be sold under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to increase council taxes next spring to cover the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council said it will proceed with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He added: “We face population challenges which will continue 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 very challenging.”
Countrywide Trends and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities recently further found local finances being strained by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring Send support.
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 cope with rising needs.
Government officials have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a white paper setting out those reforms has been postponed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
Based on the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering English councils, many key cities members were among the most deprived in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the report.
“While only one key city is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data underscores the extent of difficulties facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, councils will persist to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study found.
