Havering's adult services are set to undergo a restructure amid concerns over funding, as revealed in the latest Cabinet meeting. The council is planning a parallel restructure of its commissioning team, to be completed by December 2025, following changes to NHS North East London, which is undergoing a restructure to cut running costs by 50%. This will significantly impact Place and end the current integrated commissioning model.
The decision was made during a meeting on Wednesday 15 October 2025, where the Cabinet considered an interim Adults Commissioning Strategy for 2025-26.
Councillor Gillian Ford, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Adults and Wellbeing, explained the necessity for an interim strategy. We had commissioned and established a very effective Joint Commissioning Unit in Havering, which has now unfortunately had to be separated out due to the ICB funding and the cuts of the 50%,
she said. She reassured that relationships with partners would remain strong, but the interim strategy would focus on Havering's side of things due to uncertainties with the Integrated Care Board (ICB).
The strategy outlines the council's approach to planning and commissioning adult services over the next 12 months, with a focus on responding to local needs, prevention, and enabling independent living. The report pack lists the key commissioning intentions for 2025/2026 as supported housing, direct payments, complex needs care, preventative services, hospital discharge, support for carers, and dementia care.
The report pack highlights the demographic challenges facing Havering, including a growing population with a high proportion of residents aged 65 and over, and the lowest proportion of working-age adults in London. Household deprivation has also risen, with disparities in health and disability between communities. Despite rising demand, funding for health and social care is based on outdated population data, leaving Havering under-resourced.
Councillor Ford emphasised that the strategy is designed to work within financial constraints and potentially reduce costs. She stated that the strategy signals the areas of focus for the coming year, while a longer-term strategy is developed. An action plan will be developed to deliver against the commissioning intentions. The overarching priorities of the strategy are financial sustainability, community engagement, prevention, integrated neighbourhood teams, and market management. A significant amount of further engagement and codesign with local people is planned, including monthly events outreaching into local communities, which will be focussed around wellbeing and linking local people into wider services, as well as speaking with them about the proposed key areas of focus for improvement, and the things that matter most to them.
During the meeting, concerns were raised about the impact of the ICB changes on other partners and potential additional costs. Councillor Keith Darvill asked, What's the impact on the other partners in the arrangement we have? I mean, will they all be joining separately commissioning, and is that going to create sort of an additional cost, overall cost, as it were, of our original projection?
Councillor Ford responded that the council would continue to collaborate with health partners, and commissioning would be determined on a case-by-case basis. She also noted that many joint commissioning exercises had already been undertaken, securing funding for several years. The intention is to lift commissioning up from borough level to North East London level, which could potentially lead to further savings.
Councillor David Miller inquired about the increasing needs of the elderly population. Barbara Nicholls, Strategic Director of People, clarified that while the number of older residents receiving services had not changed significantly, the complexity of their needs had increased. She also noted an increase in self-funders requiring council support as their funds run out.
Nicholls also addressed how the council will address the rising household deprivation and disparities in health and disability between communities within the context of the new strategy. She stated that a big part of the plan is ensuring that access is made available to people who need services, focusing on adult social care with a role in prevention. She noted that the commissioning intentions are set out in such a way that the council will be looking at how they work with unmet need and people who are hard to reach, so that they're able to bring them into services where they need it.
Andrew Blake-Herbert added that the budget report, due in November, would address demographic shifts and their impact on the council's overall budget position.
The Cabinet agreed to the recommendations, approving the interim Adults Commissioning Strategy. The strategy is intended to replace the previous Joint Commissioning Strategy 2017-2020 and outline key priorities and commissioning intentions while a longer-term strategy is developed with stakeholders.
