Based on a latest study of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to sell social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they bet on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and land to support their budgets, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group noted that a high proportion of authorities attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in another town to raise 20 million pounds over five years.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties owned in two English counties, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, also found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after sharp increases in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these require time to deliver both improved services and financial savings,” stated a council leader.
He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
Countrywide Patterns and Projections
Research of county councils recently also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will hit £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage increased demand.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper setting out those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) covering UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the study.
“While only one key city is in the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures underscores the scale of difficulties confronting 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 funding system that reflects and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and need,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will persist to face difficult decisions around which essential services to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their communities.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised care services in the past 12 months, the survey found.
