According to a recent study of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to offload social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in England stated that 60% of local authorities are intending to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling public land and open spaces to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to generate essential revenue from asset sales or face insolvency.
This coalition noted that a significant number of authorities attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to manage growing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent said its asset disposal plan featured the sale of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to generate £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be sold under the plan.
Council Tax Rises and Broader Financial Strains
This research of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to increase council taxes next April to cover the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.
Medway council said it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated Vince Maple.
He continued: “There are population challenges which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of county councils recently also found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of young people and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Gaps
According to the latest indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, several key cities members were among 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 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 confronting local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will persist to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of councils have reduced or weakened care services in the last year, the survey found.
