Redbridge today received the top score of level 4, from the Audit Commission for how well we manage our finances and other resources, and for how we deliver value for money services to residents.

This puts Redbridge in the top 10 per cent of councils across the UK.

The Audit Commission identified a number of areas where Redbridge has national best practice, which will now be shared with public sector organisations across the country to enable them to improve their services.

These include:

• the quality of our medium term financial strategy
• the way in which we report progress on efficiency savings to Members
• the interactive capabilities of the Redbridge i website.
• our approach to embedding a strong anti-fraud and corruption culture
• our arrangements for identifying and managing risk across the authority.
• the content, and distribution methods, of our annual report.

Councillor Jim O’Shea, Cabinet Member for Corporate Performance and Review said:

"Getting to Level Four is an outstanding achievement and a welcome recognition of the efforts made across the Authority in driving improvements and delivering good value services to our residents.

"This result demonstrates all the hard work that has been going on behind the scenes to ensure that we could meet increased demand for services against a background of rising service delivery costs and funding from central government that doesn’t fully meet our borough’s needs.

"We believe that resources need to be carefully managed, especially so when resources are limited, and this news is a ringing endorsement that Redbridge Council is doing just that."