Havering Council Adult Social Care CQC Rating Prompts Change Vow, 2026

Key Points

• The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Havering Council’s adult social care services as “requires improvement” following an inspection.
• Havering Council leader Keith Prince has pledged immediate changes, stating: “This changes right now”.
• The CQC report highlights concerns including delays in care provision, workforce challenges, and issues with assessment and support planning.
• The Havering Residents Association has defended the council’s social care team, citing underfunding and noting progress made despite resource constraints.
• Councillor Gillian Ford responded to the council leader’s comments, emphasising that staff have done “the absolute best they can with the resources available to them”.
• The findings come amid broader scrutiny of care standards in the borough, with several local care homes and services also receiving lower CQC ratings in recent years.

Havering (East London Times) July 9, 2026 – Havering Council has vowed to improve its adult social care services after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated them as “requires improvement” following a recent inspection. The rating has prompted a strong response from council leadership, opposition voices, and local stakeholder groups, with differing perspectives on the causes and implications of the findings.

What were the main findings of the CQC inspection?

According to reporting by LocalGov, the CQC inspection concluded that Havering Council’s adult social care services do not consistently meet the standards required for a “good” rating, resulting in the “requires improvement” designation.

The inspection identified several areas of concern, including delays in the provision of care, challenges in workforce capacity and management, and shortcomings in the assessment and support planning processes for service users.

As reported by the Romford Recorder, the CQC’s findings have been described as “damning” by some local observers, with the new council leadership acknowledging the seriousness of the report.

The inspectorate’s assessment forms part of its ongoing regulatory role, evaluating the quality and safety of adult social care services provided or commissioned by local authorities across England.

How has the council leadership responded to the CQC rating?

Havering Council leader Keith Prince has issued a firm commitment to address the issues identified by the CQC. As reported by the Romford Recorder, Councillor Prince stated:

“This changes right now”, signalling an immediate focus on implementing improvements across the adult social care function.

In a statement published by The Havering Daily, the council leader described the situation as one in which the new administration is “picking up the pieces”, and pledged to prioritise reform and investment in social care services.

Councillor Prince’s comments reflect a broader narrative of taking responsibility for inherited challenges while committing to measurable change.

The council has indicated that it will work closely with the CQC and other partners to develop and deliver an action plan aimed at addressing the specific weaknesses highlighted in the inspection report.

What response has come from the Havering Residents Association and opposition councillors?

The Havering Residents Association (HRA), which holds seats on the council, has offered a defence of the social care team in light of the CQC findings.

As reported by the East London Times, the HRA has pointed to chronic underfunding of adult social care at a national level, arguing that local teams have been operating under significant pressure for an extended period.

Councillor Gillian Ford, responding to the council leader’s public comments, stated:

“Havering’s Social Care team have done the absolute best they can with the resources available to them”.

Her remarks, published by The Havering Daily, emphasise the efforts of frontline staff and managers despite constrained budgets and rising demand for services.

The HRA’s position suggests that while the CQC rating is unwelcome, it should be understood within the wider context of systemic pressures affecting local authority social care provision.

How does this fit into the wider picture of care quality in Havering?

The CQC’s rating of Havering Council’s adult social care services comes against a backdrop of multiple inspections and ratings affecting care providers within the borough.

Recent years have seen several local care homes and homecare services subject to CQC scrutiny, with some receiving “requires improvement” or “inadequate” ratings for safety, leadership, or overall quality.

For example, reporting by the Romford Recorder has highlighted issues at individual providers, including safeguarding concerns at a Rainham care home, risks identified at a Romford care home, and an inspection at a Romford homecare service triggered by a service user’s death.

These cases illustrate the range of challenges that can arise across different types of provision, from residential care to domiciliary support.

The broader pattern of CQC activity in Havering underscores the complexity of ensuring consistent quality and safety across a mixed market of public, private, and voluntary sector providers.

Local authorities such as Havering play a key role both in commissioning care and in overseeing the welfare of residents who rely on these services, making the CQC’s findings for the council’s own adult social care function particularly significant.

What are the next steps for Havering Council’s adult social care services?

Following the CQC’s “requires improvement” rating, Havering Council is expected to develop and publish a detailed improvement plan setting out how it will address the weaknesses identified in the inspection.

This will typically involve targeted actions to improve assessment and care planning processes, strengthen workforce capacity and supervision, and reduce delays in the delivery of care packages.

The council leader’s public commitment to immediate change suggests that senior officers and elected members will place adult social care high on the local authority’s agenda in the coming months.

Engagement with the CQC, local Healthwatch, service users, carers, and provider organisations is likely to form part of the process of designing and monitoring improvements.

At the same time, the differing public statements from council leadership and the Havering Residents Association indicate that there may be debate locally about the balance between managerial accountability, resource constraints, and recognition of staff efforts.

How these perspectives are reconciled could influence the pace and nature of reform in Havering’s adult social care system.

Background: How did Havering Council’s adult social care services reach this point?

Adult social care in England has faced sustained pressure over more than a decade, driven by an ageing population, rising complexity of needs, and long-term constraints on local government funding.

Havering, like many outer London boroughs, has experienced growing demand for support with daily living, safeguarding, and community-based care, while managing tight budgets and workforce recruitment challenges.

The CQC’s role includes inspecting and rating local authority adult social care functions, as well as individual care providers, to ensure that services are safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well-led.

A “requires improvement” rating indicates that a service is not performing as well as it should and must make specified improvements, though it is not deemed to be failing to the extent that an “inadequate” rating would suggest.

In Havering, the combination of national trends and local pressures has contributed to difficulties in maintaining consistently high performance across all aspects of adult social care.

Recent reporting has highlighted both the operational challenges faced by the council’s social care team and the political sensitivities surrounding responsibility and resourcing.

The CQC’s latest inspection brings these issues into sharper focus, prompting a formal requirement for improvement and heightened public scrutiny.

Prediction: How could this development affect residents, carers, and local stakeholders in Havering?

The CQC’s “requires improvement” rating for Havering Council’s adult social care services is likely to have several implications for residents, unpaid carers, and local stakeholders.

In the short term, service users and their families may experience increased attention from the council and its partners as improvement plans are developed and implemented.

This could lead to changes in how assessments are conducted, how care packages are arranged, and how complaints or concerns are handled.

For residents currently waiting for care or support, there is a possibility that efforts to reduce delays and strengthen processes could improve timeliness and consistency over time, though transitional periods can sometimes bring temporary disruption.

Unpaid carers may find that communication with the council becomes more structured, with clearer expectations around support and review.

For local politicians and council officers, the rating creates a clear performance benchmark against which progress will be measured in future inspections.

The public exchange of views between the council leader and the Havering Residents Association suggests that adult social care will remain a prominent topic in local political debate, potentially influencing policy priorities and resource allocation decisions.

For care providers operating in Havering, the heightened focus on quality and safety may reinforce the importance of compliance with CQC standards and close collaboration with the council’s commissioning and safeguarding functions.

Overall, the development is likely to sharpen attention on adult social care across the borough, with the aim of driving improvements that benefit those who rely on these services.