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Based on a new poll of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of assets to balance the books.

Growing Financial Pressures Prompt Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group representing second-tier cities in England reported that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to sell assets to meet the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.

Councils have previously come under fire for selling playing fields and land to support their finances, but they argue they must continue to generate essential revenue from property disposals or face insolvency.

This coalition said that a significant number of councils attempting to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the largest share (60%) of municipal officials stated they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to weather growing fiscal pressures.”

Detailed Cases of Proposed Disposals

Medway Council in southeast England said its asset disposal plan included the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.

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

Council Tax Increases and Wider Fiscal Pressures

This research of councils in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that over seven in ten of authorities will need to raise council taxes next spring to address the rising cost of essential services, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding 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, adult social care, and short-term housing.

“We are taking innovative approaches but some of these take time to achieve both improved services and cost efficiency,” said a council leader.

He continued: “There are population challenges which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”

National Patterns and Projections

Research of regional authorities this week further found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and adults needing Send support.

The County Councils Network projected that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they grapple to manage rising needs.

Government officials have put off planned reforms to the special educational needs framework until next year after a policy document setting out those changes has been postponed.

Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls

Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) covering UK local authorities, many key cities members were among the most disadvantaged in England.

• “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the latest IMD measures,” said the study.

“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the most deprived fifth of England. The data underscores the scale of challenges facing local leaders across key cities in the coming year,” the analysis concluded.

“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said Michael Mordey.

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

One in five of councils have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the study found.