Islington Council's corporate performance for the third quarter of the 2025-26 financial year presents a mixed but largely positive picture, with 84% of delivery plan metrics on track. Councillor Nick Wayne, Chair of the Corporate Resources and Economy Scrutiny Committee, presented the Q3 report, highlighting progress across several key missions.
The report, detailed in the Q3 2025-26 Corporate Progress Performance Update, showed an improvement from the previous quarter, with a reduction in amber and red-rated metrics from 21% in Q2 to 16% in Q3.
Several key missions reported notable successes. Under the Community Wealth Building
mission, nearly 6,000 residents were supported into paid work, and 1,000 apprenticeship starts were achieved ahead of schedule. The Empowering People
mission saw 54 residents participate in deciding how to allocate £70,000 of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding towards health and wellbeing projects for the Lorraine Estate. This allocation was broken down with three projects relating to capital works and eight related to events and activities run from the community centre.
Progress was also seen in the Child-Friendly Islington
mission, which reported provisional improvements in school attendance for the Autumn Term 2025/26. Overall absence stood at 5.8% in primary schools and 8% in secondary schools, with secondary absence showing a positive 0.3% improvement compared to the previous year. These indicative figures were sourced from the Autumn 2025 term data.
However, the Greener Islington
mission is facing challenges. While recycling rates have improved over the past year, they remain below the 36% target. The council is actively working to bridge this gap through investment in estate recycling facilities, with 76 projects completed (covering 6,022 households) and a further 17 commissioned or under consultation. A total of £1.85m has been spent from a £3.2m budget, with £1.36m remaining. Furthermore, food waste recycling services for Flats Above Shops will commence in mid-February and conclude by April, contributing to the overall recycling rate. Despite these efforts, total waste per resident remains among the lowest in London.
The Greener Islington
mission is also experiencing delays in the implementation of new Liveable Neighbourhoods schemes. While planning is ongoing, the rollout has been slower than anticipated, with no new schemes expected to come online in Q4. This delay is anticipated to impact the overall goal of 50% borough coverage. Currently, 26.6% of the borough is covered by Liveable Neighbourhoods, with a further 34% in development. The exact impact on the overall target is not yet quantified.
Regarding the Becoming an Age-Friendly Borough
metric, it was previously rated amber due to past resource constraints. These have now been addressed with the filling of a programme manager position. Development plans are underway, with stakeholder engagement and consultation set to commence in the 26/27 financial year to inform the action plan for that period.
Councillor Ernestas Jegorovas-Armstrong had inquired about the funding for the 1.5 hectares of additional greening and the associated annual revenue cost of £700,000. The response confirmed that no additional budget pressure was anticipated, with resources to be reallocated within the department.
The full details of the Q3 performance can be found in the Q3 2025-26 Corporate Performance Scorecard and the CRESC Q3 2025-26 Corporate Performance Cover Note.
