Hope Nottingham

Bulletin for our wonderful

food bank referrers

Issue 3: September 2025

We cannot support local people in crisis without you!

Welcome

Welcome to the latest edition of our Referrer's Bulletin.

As part of the Trussell network, effective referral is a key part of our food bank model. Working closely with local referral agencies can really make the difference not only in local people accessing emergency food support, but more importantly in improving their situations and helping them to avoid the need for food bank referrals in the future. We hugely value your continued support and engagement as a foodbank referrer.

Please read on to find out about expected increased demand on local referrers such as yourselves, our newest food bank location, changes in food bank opening times and locations and details of our next Referrers' Event.

Every blessing

The Hope Nottingham Team

New St Ann's food bank location

We have been aware for some time that foodbank guests from the St Ann's area have had a substantial distance to travel to access their nearest Trussell foodbank. Therefore we are delighted to be partnering with St Ann with Emmanuel Church to operate a new food bank in St Ann's.

The new session will begin on Wednesday 24th September and is now available on the Trussell Referral System as an assignable food bank location, along with our other sites across Nottingham.

St Ann's food bank session

Wednesdays 10am - 12 noon

St Ann with Emmanuel Church, Robin Hood Chase, Nottingham, NG3 4EY

(Please note car park postcode is NG3 4EX)

Changes of time and location

Please note that our food bank at The Haven in Stapleford is now open on Tuesdays and Thursdays 10am - 12 noon. (They will no longer be running a Friday session).

Please also be aware that our Sneinton Food Bank is temporarily operating from The Pavilion, King Edward's Park, Carlton Rd, NG3 2AR

Please make sure guests are aware of these changes when issuing vouchers for these food banks.

Join us for our online referrers' event

It has been fantastic to meet lots of our referrers at our previous Referrer's Events, but we know that travelling to an in-person event isn't always possible and referrers at several agencies asked whether we could hold an online event. Therefore our next Referrers' Event will be an online session via Teams on Thursday 13th November at 2pm.

Join us to:

Explore insights into emergency food provision
Learn more about making effective referrals
Network with other local agencies and share information about the services you offer
Ask questions about food bank provision and referral

We'd love to see you there. Please sign up using the link below.

Expected increased demand on you - our local referrers

For the last few years we have been supported by Help through Hardship, a national freephone helpline operated by Trussell in partnership with Citizens Advice. The helpline offers those experiencing financial hardship advice and support, including benefits checks, signposting to local services and if appropriate, food bank referrals. The service has provided a valuable 'first port of call' for guests who are struggling but have no existing links with local referral agencies.

Unfortunately this service is being reduced, meaning accessing the helpline will be more difficult for people seeking advice and support.

As a result, we will be looking wherever possible to signpost guests to appropriate local referral agencies - such as yourselves - for support. We know organisations like yours, working in the local community, are best placed to understand our guests' circumstances, offer necessary support and assess when emergency food support is needed.

We hugely value your role as a local community-based referrer and thank you for your continued support in working with our guests - not only to issue emergency food vouchers, but also to work with them to resolve the underlying causes of crisis. We look forward to working with you closely to better support local people, so if you have further information about the services and support you offer, please do contact us.

If you have any questions, concerns or queries about referral, please do get in touch with us - see contact details below.

3 ways you can really help us

We are committed to Trussell's referral model for emergency food support. It means we act as good stewards of our resources - ensuring food support gets to the right people at the right time. Critically it also means those accessing emergency food provision are recieving support, advice and assistance to address the reasons behind their need for food. Please help us support our guests by:

Contacting us about repeat referrals

If you have issued more than 3 referrals in any 6-month period to the same household, and need to refer again, please call us to discuss the situation. Guests needing multiple referrals require more proactive support. For example, have they been signposted to receive a benefits check or help with debt advice? We can discuss with you what appropriate help may be available.

Asking guests to bring bags with them

Food parcels can be heavy to carry. We usually prepack our parcels into carrier bags ready for our guests, but it is always helpful if guests can bring their own bags with them to the food bank.

Checking your account details

If you are a less frequent user of the Trussell system to issue emergency food vouchers, it is a good idea to regularly log in - as after a period of inactivity the system will lock your account. If this happens, please contact us using the details below.

Please could all referrers also check the users registered to their account on the Trussell system to ensure that all agency users are still current, and that all names, job titles and email addresses etc are up to date. Agency Managers can update, remove or add any users as necessary. Please contact us if you need any assistance.

How can we help you?

Read our updated Referrer's Handbook

Our Referrer's Handbook has full details of the Trussell Trust and Hope Nottingham referral process. You can access the Handbook here. Please ensure any new users you add to your account have read the handbook before issuing vouchers.

Support with referrals

We are always available if you have concerns about foodbank referrals or if you have specific queries. Our team are always happy to help. Please see the contact details below.

Arrange a visit to Hope House

If you would like to come and see how our foodbanks operate, find out about what else we do, or discuss how we can better work together, do get in touch to arrange a visit. We also hold regular referrers' events to share more about our work and the role of referrers, as well as network with other local support agencies. Keep an eye out for our referrer event emails.

Getting in touch

We are always happy to support our referrers with any queries or questions you may have. The Hope staff team members you are most likely to be in contact with, relating to foodbank referral are:

Claire Fenwick

Claire, our Foodbank Area Support Coordinator is generally out and about, supporting our foodbank teams, but will often contact referrers direct and answer their queries.

Andy Thomas

Andy, our Bookkeeper and Administrator, or one of our team of office volunteers, will usually be the person answering your calls or any emails to our general inbox.

If you need to get in touch, please ring us on 0303 040 1110 or email us at hope@hopenottingham.org.uk

Our Beeston office is open for enquiries and food donations:

Monday - Thursday 9am - 4pm

Friday - 9am - 12 noon

(Please note this differs from our foodbank opening times which can be found here, alongside all our current locations and opening times)

Tell us how we are doing

We love to hear how we are doing, especially about the great efforts of our foodbank volunteers. If you or someone you have referred to us, have had a good (or even not so good) 'Hope experience', please do tell us. We have a feedback form on our website, and will always pass on praise where praise is due, to our army of volunteers, and address anything that may need improvement. Why not drop us a line here right now?

Thank you

Bringing Hope to those who need it most, requires working together to provide holistic support, which is why we value your role as one of our referral agencies so much.

Please do get in touch or visit our website for more information. You can also follow us on Facebook here and we would encourage you to keep up to date with what is happening at Hope Nottingham by signing up to receive our monthly newsletter here.

Every blessing,

From the Hope Nottingham team

Donate here if you can to support our foodbanks

Hope Nottingham | 0303 040 1110 | www.hope-nottingham.org.uk