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Based on a latest study of local authorities, English councils are planning to offload social clubs, sports centres, and retail spaces as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.

Growing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales

The Key Cities Group for second-tier cities in the UK stated that 60% of councils are intending to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.

Local governments have in the past faced criticism for disposing of playing fields and land to support their budgets, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from asset sales or face insolvency.

The group said that a high proportion of councils attempting to raise money from a quick sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders said they would focus on restructuring services and using savings to weather increasing financial challenges.”

Specific Cases of Proposed Sales

One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a social club in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.

• A local golf course and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all generate rent for the authority, will also be disposed of under the strategy.

Local Levy Increases and Wider Financial Strains

This research of local authorities in the key cities group, which covers Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of authorities will need to raise council taxes next April to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a persistent housing shortage.

Medway council explained it will proceed 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 innovative approaches but some of these require time to deliver both better provisions and cost efficiency,” stated a council leader.

He continued: “There are demographic pressures which will continue to add to the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a drastic reduction in our central funding from over the past decade, which is very challenging.”

National Trends and Forecasts

Research of county councils this week further found local finances being stretched by the increasing figures of children and adults needing Send support.

The County Councils Network said that council deficits will hit £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they struggle to manage increased demand.

Government officials have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until next year after a policy document setting out those reforms was recently delayed.

Deprivation and Funding Shortfalls

Based on the latest indices of deprivation (IMD) for English councils, many key cities members were included in the most deprived in the country.

• “Participating urban centers like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton rank in the most deprived 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.

“Although only one key city is in the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, urban areas are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of the nation. The figures highlights the extent of challenges confronting local leaders across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the report added.

“Council officials have been explicit about the necessity for a fair and sustainable funding system that accounts for and addresses the actual extent of deprivation and demand,” said Michael Mordey.

“Lacking this, local authorities will persist to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to fund, and which to cut, to the disadvantage of their residents.”

One in five of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the last year, the study found.