Subscribe to updates
You'll receive weekly summaries about Redbridge Council every week.
If you have any requests or comments please let us know at community@opencouncil.network. We can also provide custom updates on particular topics across councils.
Summary
Redbridge Council's cabinet met on 11 December 2025, and among other things, agreed to maintain the current Council Tax Reduction Scheme, approved a new Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Priority Action Plan, and approved entering into a new agreement for an Adults Emergency Duty Team.
Here's a breakdown of the key discussion topics:
SEND and Alternative Provision Priority Action Plan
The cabinet agreed to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Priority Action Plan, following an inspection by Ofsted1 and the Care Quality Commission (CQC)2 that found widespread and/or systematic failures
in the Redbridge Local Area SEND Partnership. The council was required to submit an action plan to address areas identified for priority action.
The Priority Action Plan was developed with input from over 300 parents, staff, and partners. It focuses on developing a co-production approach with communities and embedding this approach into Education, Health and Care Plans, Need Assessments, and Annual Reviews. The plan was submitted to the Department for Education and NHS England for approval in September 2025 and is to be published on the Redbridge Council and NHS North East London Integrated Care Board websites. The local area partnership will be subject to a monitoring inspection within 18 months, followed by a full inspection within 3 years.
The inspection identified five areas of priority action and six areas for improvement, as detailed in the SEND AP Priority Action Plan Report.
According to the Priority Action Plan, the key themes of the plan are:
- Co-production: All of Us
- Improved quality and timeliness of EHCPs & Annual Reviews
- Health and Social Care Services that work for me
- Preparing for Adulthood
- Communication and Information-sharing
- Children Missing from Education or who are being educated outside school and
- High quality data that informs decisions and commissioning.
The plan includes a RAG3 indicator to track progress, with regular reports to the SEND and AP Improvement Board.
Council Tax Reduction Scheme 2026/27
The cabinet agreed to retain the 2025/26 Council Tax Reduction Scheme for 2026/27. They also approved a 3.8% increase to non-dependant deductions, based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from September 2025, rounded to the nearest penny. A £1 million Discretionary Hardship Fund will continue to provide additional support for those in severe financial hardship, as per Section 13A(1)(c) of the Local Government Finance Act 19924.
The council is required to review its Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme each year and consult on any proposed changes. The aim is to balance providing financial stability to residents with maintaining a financially sustainable scheme.
The Council Tax Reduction Scheme 2026/27 Report details the levels of support available under the scheme. Households where the claimant or partner receives disability benefits will receive support of up to 73% of their council tax liability.
The council offers other support for residents, such as a 25% single person discount, a discretionary 100% reduction in Council Tax for care leavers, and an additional 80% discount for foster carers.
Adults Emergency Duty Team Section 75 Agreement
The cabinet approved entering into a new Section 75 agreement5 with North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT) for the provision of the Adults Emergency Duty Team (EDT) for five years. The North-East London Adult Emergency Duty Team provides an emergency social care service outside of normal office hours, covering Redbridge, Havering, Barking and Dagenham, and Waltham Forest. The service is designed to deal only with emergency situations that cannot wait until the next working day.
The agreement has a maximum value of £4,460,319.20, split equally between the four partner boroughs. Redbridge's maximum cost is £1,115,079.75 over the five years. The Adults Emergency Duty Team Section 75 Agreement Report notes that local authorities have a statutory duty to provide emergency duty teams as part of their adult social care services.
Forward Plan
The cabinet agreed the items shown in the Forward Plan for 1 December 2025 to 31 March 2026.
Minutes
The minutes of the previous meeting held on 13 November 2025 were agreed.
-
Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills. It inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people, and services that provide education and skills for learners of all ages. ↩
-
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. ↩
-
RAG stands for Red, Amber, Green, and is a common project management tool for indicating the status of a project or task. ↩
-
The Local Government Finance Act 1992 is an Act of Parliament that authorises local authorities to levy and collect council tax. ↩
-
Section 75 of the National Health Service Act 2006 allows local authorities and NHS bodies to enter into integrated partnership arrangements. ↩
Attendees
Topics
No topics have been identified for this meeting yet.
Meeting Documents
Reports Pack
Additional Documents