Information for Referrers

Approved partner agencies can refer clients to the Food Bank by email. If you are already an established referrer for Sid Valley Food Bank, you will have received the current referral form which needs to be completed and emailed to us.  If you have not, please email us and we will send it to you.

If you work for an agency that has not referred clients to us before, but would like to do so, please contact us by email  or telephone to discuss this.

Referrals should normally meet the following  referral criteria

  • The client is unable to afford to buy enough food to live on and does not have enough food in the house.
  • The food crisis is an emergency (usually caused by a change of circumstances. e.g., job loss, debt crisis, sudden change of family situation, cut in benefits received, cost of living rises, etc)

Referrals can be for up to 4 weeks at a time, but re-referrals are accepted at any time with no current restrictions. However we do encourage referrers to support clients to become independent of the food bank in time, to prevent over-dependence.  We also signpost clients to other helping agencies if needed.

Please complete and email us the voucher form when requesting support on behalf of a client. It reminds referrers of the Food Bank criteria, and we ask you to ensure you use these to help make a decision about referring. 

Thank you for your continuing cooperation in helping us to help those in need. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any queries about referring to the Food Bank.