Referral Forms

To help us work smoothly together and ensure that we can successfully fulfil your referral requests, please follow the guidance below when making referrals. These cover how to avoid duplicate requests, what information to gather, collection arrangements and expected timeframes.

Avoiding duplicate referrals

Before submitting a referral, please check whether another service is already supporting the family and may also be planning to refer. When possible, coordinate with other services to agree who will submit the request. This helps us prevent duplicates and ensures fair distribution of items.

Information gathering

Please gather all relevant information needed to make a complete referral, including the family’s current circumstances. These details are not a requirement to be eligible for a referral as we have no assessment criteria, rather they help us with all important reports to funders (albeit the data is anonymised) as we can’t operate without sufficient funding.

Also, as we do not have assessment criteria, we rely on you as the professional working with the family to use your professional insight to identify those most in need.

Careful item selection

Where possible, please complete the form with the family so you can jointly identify their most essential items. This ensures the family gets what they really need and, as our resources aren’t endless, it also ensures that items go to those most in need.

Order timeframes

We always strive to prepare orders as quickly as possible, and our ambition is to have your order ready within two weeks of you completing the form. However, demand is continually increasing, and we often have over 100 pending requests. Checking, sorting, and fulfilling orders with our volunteer team takes time, so we appreciate your patience and understanding.

Collection of items

We rely on you as the referrer to make the order, collect it and take it to your family. If you or your service cannot collect items, please explore whether another professional involved with the family can collect on your behalf. This helps families receive support more quickly and frees essential space in our warehouse.

Collection details:

All collections take place to the right side of our building, where signage is clearly visible. This area is shared with the neighbouring garage.

• Drive up the right-hand side of the building.
• Look for the grey shutters on your left and ring the bell.
• A volunteer will assist you as soon as possible.
• Provide your reference number so your parcels can be retrieved.
• After collection, you may reverse out or, in coordination with the garage, turn around if space allows.

A short collection route video is also available for guidance: Pelican Parcels: how to collect a referral

Delivery requests

Please consider whether the items you are requesting will fit in your vehicle or the vehicle of someone supporting the family. Deliveries are extremely limited. If a delivery is essential, please talk to us first so we can assess availability.

Thank you. Your cooperation and support make a tremendous difference.