🔗 Share this article

Based on a recent study of municipal councils, UK councils are preparing to offload social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a rapid disposal of assets to stabilize finances.

Increasing Fiscal Challenges Prompt Asset Sales

A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in the UK reported that six out of ten of councils are planning to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.

Councils have in the past faced criticism for selling public land and land to support their budgets, but they argue they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.

This coalition noted that a high proportion of authorities seeking to generate funds from a quick sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the largest share (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to manage growing financial challenges.”

Detailed Cases of Planned Sales

One local authority in Kent announced its asset disposal plan included the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a community venue in Rochester to raise £20m over the next half-decade.

• Gillingham golf club and business parks owned in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will also be disposed of under the plan.

Local Levy Rises and Broader Fiscal Strains

The survey of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will have to increase local levies next spring to cover the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a persistent housing shortage.

Medway council said it will press ahead with property disposals after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.

“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.

He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”

Countrywide Trends and Forecasts

A survey of county councils this week also found council budgets being strained by the increasing figures of children and older individuals requiring Send support.

A network of councils said that local shortfalls will hit 4.4 billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.

Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document setting out those changes was recently delayed.

Disadvantage and Funding Gaps

Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) covering English councils, many participating urban areas were included in the most disadvantaged in the country.

• “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.

“While only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the scale of difficulties facing municipal officials across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis added.

“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that reflects and responds to the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.

“Without this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their communities.”

A fifth of councils have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.