According to a latest survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Challenges Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in the UK reported that 60% of councils are planning to dispose of properties to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and open spaces to shore up their budgets, 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 raise money from a quick sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising savings to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Examples of Proposed Disposals
Medway Council in Kent announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in Rochester to generate £20m over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be sold under the strategy.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Pressures
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, further found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these require time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to increase the pressures 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.”
National Patterns and Forecasts
Research of regional authorities this week also found council budgets being stretched by the growing number of young people and older individuals requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls
According to the most recent deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in England.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data underscores the scale of difficulties facing municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the report added.
“Council officials have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the survey revealed.
