Havering is an outer London borough like no other. Sitting in Northeast London, we are the third largest London Borough geographically. Located in Zone 6, we have three Crossrail stations in borough which means we are only 30 minutes from Oxford Street. This makes us well connected to the hustle and bustle of the city, as well as being only a short drive or bus from the surrounding Essex countryside and the seaside, giving our residents the best of both city and rural living.
We have one of the fastest growing, increasingly diverse child populations in the country, all of whom benefit from living in one of the greenest areas in London. We have some amazing parks, 16 of which have green flag award status. One of our most popular parks Bedford Park, is a beautiful place for families to spend a day with a picnic. This park is a designated a Local Nature Reserve, with 215 acres of green space and home to a herd of captive red deer. Havering is also the base for West Ham United’s 29 acre training ground with modern facilities located in Rush Green.
We are served by a rich mix of foundation, community, voluntary aided and academy schools with great Ofsted ratings within our communities. Havering Town Hall, which hosts our main offices is in the centre of Romford, our largest town in borough. Romford is home to a vibrant street market dating back to 1247 which operates 3 days a week and is the perfect place to pick up a diverse range of goods including fresh meat and fish, veg and fruit, the latest fashion, mobile phone accessories and household goods. Our offices are also only a 5 minute walk from the main shopping centres which host a range of popular shops and restaurants.
We are unique in our political makeup, with Havering Residents’ Association working in co-operation with the Labour Group to make Havering an even better place to live and work. We have a strong corporate agenda and are embedding an increasingly insight-driven culture.
Our vision is to create a better future for people in our community and focusses on supporting Havering’s children and families to lead happy, healthy lives. We are committed to supporting families to improve their lives and create a safe and positive environment for children, ensuring that every child has equal opportunities to thrive, access the highest possible levels of education and enjoy a stable and happy home. We believe firmly in empowering families to create sustainable change themselves, allowing them to find their own solutions. Our aim is to provide excellent services that are child-centred, collaborative, responsive, value-driven, and reflective.
Our seven key priorities
Recruitment, retention, and wellbeing, across the workforce​
Raising aspirations for children and families; being child focused in everything we do and to deliver our Pledge to them​
Purposeful interventions and focused planning based on assessed individual needs​
Improved case recording with clear evidence of decision-making and rationale​
Strong partnerships delivering improved outcomes across our system​
Quality assurance, evidencing how we are making a difference to lives and life chances​
Children, families and our staff experience safe lives, free from exploitation, racism, and discrimination.
Our approach is to enable our practitioners to have the resource and expertise to provide a systemic approach to achieve lasting effects through our Face-to-Face model of practice, leading to sustainable, positive outcomes. Havering’s ethos is embodied by our approach to fitting the system to the family rather than asking the family to fit to the system.
Social work in Havering is supported by working collaboratively with children, young people, and families by having ongoing conversations, so they can engage in the most effective forms of intervention. With your expertise and motivation to support our children, young people and families, Havering is the ideal place for your social work career. Our workforce is the driving force behind our significant achievements and will be the key to making our ambitions a reality.
Choose Havering
Choose Havering is the Council’s commitment to creating an organisation that is the best it can be and asks employees to pledge to make positive choices every day, so we can achieve all our ambitions. You can find out more about Choose Havering here.
We are dedicated to creating the right conditions to support our social care practitioners to thrive by fostering an environment where you can develop your skills and knowledge alongside like-minded individuals. We value our employees and offer a range of benefits.
Why choose Havering?
A rewarding role where you are fully supported by managers with a competitive salary to match
Subsidised parking at various council-owned car parks across the borough
Modern workplace equipped with the latest technology
A commitment to maintain manageable caseloads
Generous local government pension scheme and leave entitlement
A strong corporate health and wellbeing offer, discounted gym membership, employee assistance programme and much more
A tailored training programme along with development opportunities through our very own dedicated Social Care Academy ​ which fits with the council’s commitment to all individuals having 10 days of learning per year
Access to accredited systemic training and in-house practice application workshops
Annual staff recognition schemes (STAR awards and Social Care awards) celebrating and recognising staff commitment and achievement 
Access to a range of staff forums including LGBTQI+, B.A.M.E., Faith, Ability, Women’s, and Men’s forums.
Havering is a wonderful place to start or continue your social care journey. To choose Havering or you can find out more about working in Havering Children’s Services here.
If you’re looking to apply for a role within Havering Children’s Service, or have any questions about applying, contact Fatema Ahmed, Senior Project Officer: cypscomms@havering.gov.uk