According to a latest poll of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Growing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in England stated that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have previously come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
This coalition noted that a high proportion of councils attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to manage increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy featured the sale of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which includes several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will have to raise council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but certain measures take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said 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 over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
A survey of regional authorities this week further found local finances being strained by the growing number of young people and adults requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
Based on the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, several key cities members were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures underscores the extent of challenges confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the study found.
