Cabinet Agrees Better Care Fund Partnership And Reviews Council Finances

Havering’s Cabinet met on Wednesday evening to consider a number of significant reports covering adult social care, the Council’s financial position and the delivery of its capital programme.

Cabinet Member for Adults and Health, Cllr Graham Day, introduced proposals for a Section 75 partnership agreement governing the Better Care Fund. The programme, worth approximately £41 million in 2026/27, is jointly commissioned with the NHS and is intended to help residents remain independent for longer, avoid unnecessary hospital admissions and support people to continue living in their own homes. Havering’s contribution to the fund is around £8.5 million.

Cllr Chris Wilkins (Upminster, HRA) asked how the proposed Neighbourhood Health arrangements would interact with the programme. In response, the Cabinet Member acknowledged the complexity of the wider health and care landscape and indicated that reablement services would continue to be a key priority.

Martin Goode (Harold Wood Residents Association) asked whether the Council’s contribution would ultimately be reflected in future savings. The discussion focused on the broader benefits of preventing residents from reaching crisis point and reducing demand for more intensive interventions.

Labour councillor Matthew Stanton (Beam Park) raised the issue of organisational flexibility, arguing that where the benefits of preventative work sit in one budget but the costs sit in another, overly rigid decision-making can be harmful both to residents and to the Council’s finances. Council Leader Keith Prince accepted the point and indicated his support for a more holistic approach to decision-making across services.

Cabinet then received the Revenue and Capital Outturn reports, presented by Cabinet Member for Finance Cllr Sue Benjamins. The reports set out the Council’s financial position at the end of the 2025/26 financial year and reviewed progress against the approved capital programme.

During the discussion, Cllr Benjamins highlighted the particular challenges faced by Havering as a borough with both a large older population and significant numbers of children and young people, placing substantial demands on statutory services.

Cllr Wilkins asked when the Council expected to end its reliance on Exceptional Financial Support. Cabinet did not give a specific timetable.

Cllr Stanton questioned how capital schemes that had slipped into future years could be adapted to reflect changing local priorities, citing the delivery of larger family homes as an example where community need may not always align neatly with traditional viability assumptions. A useful discussion followed regarding the operation of Greater London Authority grant funding, with the Leader indicating that he intended to raise with Deputy Mayor for Housing Tom Copley whether future funding models should place greater emphasis on the number of bedrooms delivered rather than simply the number of units.

Cllr Stanton also asked how the Council intended to manage the impact of inflation on projects whose budgets had been agreed but whose delivery had been delayed. The Leader acknowledged the challenge and said the Council would need to find innovative ways of responding, although it would take time for some of those approaches to develop and mature.

Aside from the Leader and the Cabinet Members introducing the reports, discussion from members of the administration was absent.

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