Havering London Borough Council Reviews 

Review of Havering Council – Adult Social Care (Feb–Current 2025)

My experience with Havering Council’s Adult Social Care department has been deeply frustrating, distressing, and frankly unacceptable. I’ve been dealing with them since February to current 2025 regarding the double-handed care provided for my father, and I feel strongly compelled to share the reality of the situation.

They are demanding £2,700 every four weeks, yet refuse to break down what this figure includes. Despite multiple formal complaints, I still haven’t received a clear explanation from either the financial assessment team/benefits department. Each time I ask for transparency or even a simple itemised breakdown, I’m sent in circles. One department tells me to speak to the other, and vice versa. No one takes ownership or accountability.

To make matters worse, I understand that the carers receive only £6 per 30-minute visit, but they rarely stay even close to that long. Most visits last 5–10 minutes, or at most 15–20 minutes when a shower is involved. Given this, the £2,700 figure seems grossly inflated, and yet I’m expected to pay it without question or explanation. This feels not just like bad practice, but deeply unethical.

When I escalated matters, even the assessment/benefits manager stated he’s “not at liberty to say” what the charges are for and pushed me back to the care services team — who, in turn, redirected me back to the council. It’s a constant loop of avoidance.

Frankly, the whole system feels underhanded, opaque, and exploitative. For a public service that is supposed to be helping vulnerable people and their families, this behaviour is unacceptable. The lack of transparency, accountability, and compassion is shocking.

They expect blind compliance, and when you ask for clarity, you’re treated like a nuisance. It is disgraceful. Families under strain should not also be fighting for answers from a service that is supposed to support them.

I hope this review helps others to approach with caution and pushes the Council to fix what is clearly a deeply flawed and possibly exploitative system.

This Council is not fit to work for the

I received a penalty notice from a traffic warden even though I had paid. I paid the £30 fine. I then discovered the £2.80 I had paid with my card on the machine on my Bank Statement. Unable to speak to anyone so I several emails to parking department not answered. Sent email to Havering Council, got a reply with ref number saying that they would contact me within 56 days. That was on 29th March. This is 17th July. Tried phoning today all automated responses. Eventually got through to Complaints Department who said they could not help regarding parking complaints! The whole system I feel is designed to make it impossible to seek justice when things like this happen. As far as I am concerned havering Council have stolen £30 from me! A small amount and I am that frustrated thinking of giving up!

I am writing to express my profound dissatisfaction and concern regarding the handling of my Penalty Charge Notice (PCN), issued by Havering Council.

I submitted an appeal against this PCN, as is my fundamental right, believing I had legitimate grounds for contesting the charge. Regrettably, my appeal was rejected after an unacceptably long period of four months.

My primary grievance centres on the subsequent demand for the full penalty amount. Upon rejection of my appeal, the council has demanded the full sum, removing the option to pay the initially offered discounted rate of £65 (50%). This policy effectively penalises individuals for exercising their right to appeal. It is unjust to levy a higher charge simply because an individual has sought to challenge a penalty through the established legal process. The delay in processing my appeal, coupled with the subsequent demand for the full amount, places an undue burden on the appellant and appears to undermine the very purpose of an appeals system.

Furthermore, my attempts to seek clarification or discuss this matter via the Havering Council Helpline have been entirely unproductive. The helpline appears to consist solely of recorded messages, offering no opportunity to speak with a representative and resolve queries or discuss payment options. This lack of accessible communication channels exacerbates the frustration and difficulty in addressing such matters.

I strongly believe that Havering Council, as a public service provider, should uphold principles of fairness and transparency. The current approach, which penalises appellants by revoking the discounted payment option after a lengthy appeal process, feels exploitative and does not align with the expected conduct of a civic authority.

On Friday my electrical box started sparking when my electrical appliances was being used then thick black smoke filled my kitchen .how it didn’t catch fire I don’t know . My son phoned Havering and they sent an electrician out . The electrician said it’s bad and who installed it done a bodge job . He condemned the fuse box .. so had no electricity.. phoned council all Friday night didn’t want to know j phoned them all day Saturday they said they would get some one to call with in hour no one did.. told them we had no electric and no food as had to throw it away .. not interested.. they eventually wanted to send me and my son to Stratford late Saturday night but they said I would have to leave dogs at home .. we declined I’m not leaving my dogs in this heat ..an electrician came out to fix it today Monday morning .. I emailed the top boss Paul walker with no response .. totally disgusting the way we have been treated .. you think they would learn with Grenville tower as long as they get their rent they don’t care . Very bad council

By far the worst and most corrupt council, I have been a resident of havering council for the past 2 years and it's been absolute vile.

They have made constant budget cuts, dimming walking lights in winter (making it unsafe for people walking around especially with the constant crackheads.

I did a simple dropped curb of 2 metres and was charged £8,800.

The parking enforcement officers are stupid and don't know what the law is. They don't allow you to make representations as they slap on extra charges if you challenge a ticket and lose. The roads are riddled with potholes all over with no sign of getting better.

Unfortunately this is a borough that carers more about draining its residents bank accounts than actually doing anything.

There was a large increase in council tax for no reason (services are actually getting worse not better).

This is the worst borough I have seen when it comes to parking fines.

I parked my car somewhere in Romford and I paid for parking permit but when I came to take my car I realised that a ticket has been issued by RingGo after a few days I paid the balance.

Then I moved home and a bailiff came knocking, thought it was a mistake I went to the council to find out what happened and these morons found it difficult to trace the initial payment even when it was clearly showing that I paid on the day my car was parked.

With the receipts of the two payments they could not reconcile this PCN that was issued by RingoGo, I filed an out of time appeal with CCBC and before the court could review my case the council have referred me back to the OneSource bailiff again and they have been writing my letters on daily basis.

That said the I have just received a letter from the court refusing to accept my out of time application.
So I’m confused as to what is going on?

Is there someone in the court that is working /conniving with OneSource to rip unsuspecting citizens off.

I shall contact BBC’s Ripoff Britain to check if they can help with this investigation. It’s a huge money and very distressing for me because I paid the money and this should have been settled between the Havering Council and RingGo.

I went to havering and drove through the high street. A few weeks later, i received two different PCN issued on the same day, same time, and same street. i challenged one and paid for the other. From my challenge, i received a letter that i have not made any representation as such, i must pay double the amount. i filled another form to which i attached proofs of my challenge and the reply plus my proof of payment just for me to receive an email stating that now i must pay triple the amount because i did not pay on time and that the two different PCN are a consequence of two different cameras. At that rate, they should put up ten or more cameras to keep defrauding ordinary citizens. I have never seen such a situation not even in central London.