Respite Care at Home in Havering

Start with Imago, Havering's carers service

Since February 2026, support for unpaid carers in Havering has been run by Imago on the council's behalf, as the Havering Carers Support Service. It replaced the old Havering Carers Hub. It is for carers aged 16 and over, and you can reach it on 0300 011 1965 or at haveringcarers@imago.community.

Imago offers information and advice, emotional support, help with money and benefits, carers' groups, training and activities, and help planning for emergencies. It runs no-booking drop-ins at Harold Hill Library, Paines Brook Court, HOPWA House in Hornchurch and Rainham Library, and can carry out a statutory carer's assessment as part of a personal support plan. It is all free.

Can I get respite paid for by Havering Council?

Possibly. The route is a carer's assessment, which looks at how caring affects your health, work, sleep and the rest of your life. You can book one through the council's carer support pages online, or by phone or face to face on 01708 432000. Imago can do it as well.

After the assessment, the council decides whether your needs are eligible for support or respite and writes to explain the decision. One possible outcome is what Havering calls replacement care: care given to the person you look after so that you can take a break, provided you both agree. Because that care goes to the person you look after, they may also need a needs assessment or review. Where the council funds a break, it can be paid as a direct payment, which can then be used to book respite with us.

If you are paying yourself, we quote after a free home assessment. Our guide to paying for care in London explains the funding routes.

The breaks we can provide in Havering

• A live-in short stay. A carer moves in for the length of your break and takes on the daily routine: personal care, medication, meals and company. It works anywhere in the borough, from a semi in Elm Park to a bungalow in Cranham, because the carer is not travelling back and forth. The carer needs a bedroom of their own, which in most Havering houses is the spare room.
• A regular afternoon off, through visits or a sit-in. We are honest about this one: Havering is roughly an hour or more from Lewisham, so a weekly slot depends on having a carer who can reach you reliably. Romford and the Elizabeth line stations are the most realistic. Ask before you plan around it.
• Respite for someone with dementia. A carer at home keeps the house, the chair and the routine the same, which often matters more than anything else. It sits within our dementia care service.

If you can, be there when the carer arrives to walk them through the routine. We arrange that handover at the assessment.

Planning for an emergency before it happens

The hardest kind of respite to arrange is the unplanned kind, for example when you are taken into Queen's Hospital yourself. Two things are worth doing now:

1. Get an Emergency Alert Card through Imago (0300 011 1965). You carry it in your purse or wallet, and it tells anyone who finds you that someone depends on you, with one or two contacts who have agreed to step in. The council's page on the carers register and alert card explains how it works.
2. Ask at your carer's assessment what would happen if you suddenly could not carry on, and get that written into your support plan.

A stay away from home: our three houses across London

Some people do better with a change of scene, and we have three supported living homes that take respite stays, in Whitton, Kingston upon Thames and Uxbridge. They are all on the opposite side of London from Havering. The nearest in practice is Uxbridge: roughly an hour to an hour and a quarter by car clockwise round the M25 from Romford, off-peak, or about an hour and a half or more by public transport through central London. Kingston and Whitton are further. Given that journey, a carer at home is usually simpler, but if a stay away is what the person needs, ask us about it.

Free and low-cost breaks around Havering

Paid respite is not the only way to get time back. Age UK Redbridge, Barking and Havering leads the Havering Ageing Well service for people over 50, with befriending, falls-prevention classes and its Di's Diamonds social activities. For adults with a learning disability, the council's day opportunities include the Avelon Road Centre in Rainham; ask the Community Learning Disability Team about it.

What we can help with in Havering

• Regular visits so you can rest
• Live-in cover while you are away
• Planned breaks booked ahead
• Cover if the main carer is unwell
• Dementia-aware respite
• Short stays in our supported living homes
• Help with the carers' assessment route
• A care plan the family agrees