Based on a latest study of local authorities, English councils are preparing to offload social clubs, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group for major urban areas in England reported that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and land to shore up their budgets, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.
The group noted that a significant number of councils attempting to generate funds from a quick sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of municipal officials said they would prioritise service redesigns and using financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges.”
Specific Examples of Planned Disposals
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy featured the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over five years.
- A local golf course and commercial properties held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Financial Strains
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of councils will have to increase local levies next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will press ahead with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, elderly and disability services, and temporary accommodation.
“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these take time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.
He continued: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”
National Trends and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities recently also found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults needing special educational assistance.
A network of councils projected that council deficits will hit 4.4 billion pounds 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 has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” noted the study.
“Although only one key city is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The data underscores the scale of difficulties confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis added.
“Council officials have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which vital provisions to fund, 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 found.
