Based on a latest poll of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to balance the books.
Increasing Financial Challenges Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing major urban areas in England stated that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to sell assets to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have in the past come under fire for selling public land and land to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to raise vital cash from property disposals or face insolvency.
The group said that a significant number of authorities seeking to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders stated they would focus on service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to manage growing financial challenges.”
Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals
One local authority in southeast England announced its asset disposal plan featured the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a social club in another town to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- A local golf course and business parks owned in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be disposed of under the plan.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Pressures
The survey of councils in the coalition, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to increase council taxes next spring to cover the rising cost of essential services, increased rates of housing insecurity, and a persistent accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of youth support, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are taking creative strategies but some of these take time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “We face population challenges which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Patterns and Projections
Research of county councils recently also found local finances being stretched by the growing number of young people and adults requiring Send support.
A network of councils projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have delayed scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a policy document outlining those changes has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Gaps
Based on the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) for UK local authorities, several participating urban areas were among the most disadvantaged in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the top 30 nationally under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is in the top 10 for disadvantaged communities countrywide, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The data highlights the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and demand,” said a council leader.
“Without this, councils will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their communities.”
A fifth of local authorities have reduced or weakened social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey found.
