Referral Agency Portal

Before making a referral, please read the following important information

Our foodbank is a charitable service, entirely dependent on donations from our supporters, and our food stocks are continuously under severe pressure. Therefore we would kindly request that a foodbank referral is only made as a LAST RESORT once all other possible means of support have been exhausted. In particular, application should have been made to the Scottish Welfare Fund and (if applicable) to any support available via the local authority housing department or other housing associations. The Worrying About Money leaflet provides information on where to find financial advice and support in Fife.

When submitting a referral please use the Notes facility on the online referral form to explain in as much detail as possible what support has been provided to the household prior to seeking help from the foodbank.

Additional information on submitting a referral is provided further below – you may wish to read it to ensure you are up to date with all the latest information we need you to take into consideration when making a referral to Glenrothes Foodbank.

If you wish to continue to submit a referral to Glenrothes foodbank please click the following link:

Foodbank Online Referral System

Some helpful advice to improve quality of referrals

Searching for a client record

• When searching for a client record, do not enter the optional First name. Use only Surname and Postcode to find a match.
• If there is more than one adult in the household and surnames are different, check the foodbank history for each adult as our limits (see below) apply per household not per customer.

Creating a new client record

• Before creating a new record, carefully check the spelling of the surname for someone who doesn’t appear to have a foodbank record. We are often seeing new client records being created for the same person with different spelling of surname.
• If you are aware that the customer has changed address recently, check for a foodbank record at their previous address before creating a new record at their current address. If a previous record exists, then update the address when submitting the referral.
• When entering a new address always check the postcode using the Royal Mail Postcode Finder.
• Use the correct data entry boxes for First name and Surname. We frequently have to fix or merge client records where First name and Surname have been entered in the wrong data entry box.
• Capitalise the first letter of names and addresses Eg “Smith” not “smith”, “Glenrothes” not “glenrothes” and don’t use all capitals eg “GLENROTHES”.
• Don’t abbreviate street names eg “St” for “Street”, “Rd” for “Road”, “Cres” for Crescent
• Always endeavour to enter a year of birth for the customer named on a foodbank referral.

Reason for referral

• Please do not use Unable to ask or Declined to answer as a reason for referral. Unfortunately we will not be able to accept a referral with either of these options selected.

Our service limits

The limit of our service is three food parcels per household in a 6 month period. If you find that your client has reached their limit and you feel further support may be justified, please contact the foodbank manager on 01592 631088 to discuss prior to making a referral.

Delivery

Our delivery criteria are

1. the address is in an area outside Glenrothes and within our wider catchment area (see below)
2. the customer has a disability which prevents them from attending the foodbank or
3. the household has a single parent with small children.

Please only request a delivery service in the above circumstances.

For clarity our catchment area includes Leslie, Markinch, Thornton, Kinglassie, Coaltown of Balgonie, Milton of Balgonie, Freuchie and Falkland. We don’t provide a service (delivery or collection) to Kirkcaldy, Lochgelly, Cardenden, the Wemyss villages or the Levenmouth area.

Delivery times are Monday 12noon-3pm, Tuesday 11am-1pm, Wednesday 1pm-5pm and Friday 12noon-3pm. If the customer may not be at home for any reason during a delivery time please include that information in the Notes on the referral form. If the customer is out we will leave the food if there is a safe place to do so and at the customer’s own risk. If there is no safe place to leave the food we will return it to the foodbank and the customer will need to arrange a collection.

Validity of a referral voucher

A referral which is for collection is valid for 3 days. If not collected within that period it is deemed not an emergency. The referral is cancelled and a new referral will be required before the customer can receive food support.

Carrier bags

We are constantly in need of carrier bags. For collection referrals, please ask the customer to bring their own bags to the foodbank if possible.

Agency managers, department heads and team leaders

If you are an agency manager, department head or team leader with a colleague who needs to be added as a referral agent on the foodbank online referral system, please contact the foodbank manager by email at [email protected] enclosing your name and job title, the name and address of your agency and the name, job title, email address and telephone number of the person(s) to be added. All new account holders will be invited to attend a mandatory introductory training session. Training will normally take place at the foodbank premises on Wednesday mornings between 10am and 11am. Please keep us updated regarding staffing changes so we can remove any accounts that are no longer in use.

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