Customers of Havering Council will now be able to securely pay their council tax and rent by sending a simple text message from their mobile phone.

The new service enables customers to choose the time they want to pay their bills 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.    

All customers need to do is complete a simple online registration process with the secure Allpay website at https://www.allpayments.net/textpay/logon.aspx. The website will ask for a registered mobile phone number, an allpay.net card number, a debit card and a text code e.g. ctax, rent and password (the last four digits of your bank card).    

Once registered, customers will receive an email and a text confirming that their registration has been accepted.

Customers can then begin paying their bills from Havering Council by sending a text message to 81025 for the cost of standard text message.

Texts need to include the word 'pay', the text code for the type of bill, the amount and the password. For example if you were paying £15.00 Rent and your password was 1234 you would text 'Pay Rent  £15.00 1234' to 81025.

Customers will then be sent a text message usually within three minutes confirming that the payment has been successful.

Councillor Andrew Curtin, Cabinet Member for Public Realm, said: "This new service gives our customers the easiest way possible to pay their council bills. People can pay council tax, rents, mortgage and housing benefit overpayment by this simple and secure method.

"Of course we will maintain our other methods for payment but this is the probably easiest way service users can pay their bills."      

Taken from havering.gov.uk