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Based on a latest survey of local authorities, UK councils are preparing to offload social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.

Increasing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK reported 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 in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and open spaces to shore up their finances, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.

The group said that a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a quick sale of holdings marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to manage growing fiscal pressures.”

Specific Examples of Proposed Disposals

One local authority in Kent said its property management strategy included the sale of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in Rochester 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 additionally be sold under the strategy.

Local Levy Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures

The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will have to raise council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.

Medway council explained it will proceed with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.

“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to deliver both improved services 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 unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”

Countrywide Trends and Projections

Research of county councils recently also found council budgets being strained by the growing number of children and adults requiring special educational assistance.

A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will reach 4.4 billion pounds a year by 2029, as they struggle to manage increased demand.

Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document setting out those reforms has been postponed.

Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls

Based on the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) for English councils, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in England.

• “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.

“Although only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data underscores the extent of difficulties facing municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.

“Local government leaders have been explicit about the necessity for a equitable and lasting funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.

“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”

A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the study revealed.