Dear referring agency,

To help you make  successful and appropriate referrals we ask that you read these notes before making a referral.

Many thanks.

What Citizens Advice Lewisham and its Advice Lewisham partners expects from referring agencies

• It is important that you only refer vulnerable and at risk clients via this channel who are unable to access our services through our other channels themselves, please see our website for details of other channels
• That your client lives, works or studies in the London Borough of Lewisham.
• That the online referral form is completed and includes all relevant information about your client and specifically states what advice is needed  as well as any particular access or capability needs they have, please avoid phrases such as needs general advice, or needs support with benefits.
• That if you include any Special Category Data in the referral, eg health information that the client has given their explicit consent to include this. We will assume that this is the case.
• If a preferred third party is provided for us to contact that the client has given their consent for this person to act on their behalf
• That if the client has a preferred first language or needs the help of an interpreter this stated on the referral form
• That you explain the nature of the  service that  will be offered to your client from Citizens Advice Lewisham and its partners so that they know what to expect including that they may be telephoned  from a withheld number.
• That if the client has any particular circumstances that will impact on Citizens Advice Lewisham and its partners contacting them that this is shared on the referral form
• That your client knows about and have agreed to the referral
• That you have the consent of your client to make the referral

What you can expect from Citizens Advice Lewisham and its Advice Lewisham partners when you make a referral

• Citizens Advice Lewisham will aim to contact clients referred within 3 working days. We may contact your client outside 3 working days if they need an appointment and a relevant appointment is not available. If we are unable to offer an appointment when needed within a 3  week period we will inform you that we are unable to assist your client at the current time.
• Citizens Advice Lewisham will attempt to contact referred clients up to 3 times. If we are unsuccessful in contacting a client and it is possible to leave them a message we will confirm that we are contacting them from Citizens Advice Lewisham and that if they still need assistance they should re-contact the referring agency or contact us directly via the Adviceline. Our assessors may call from a withheld number.
• Citizens Advice Lewisham when contacting clients will carry out a triage assessment of the client’s advice needs, this assessment will take account of the capabilities of the client and complexity of their issue
• Citizens Advice Lewisham and its partners can only provide advice and information and support as part of providing advice. We cannot provide ongoing support to clients with day to day  management of their affairs.
• As a result of our assessment we may offer self-help information or signposting to a more appropriate agency, or offer an appointment where more in depth advice and support if needed with Citizens Advice Lewisham or  one of our Advice Lewisham partners, or make a referral to an appropriate alternative service including other national Citizens Advice Services.
• Appointments are offered to clients up to 2 weeks in advance but this may be longer depending on availability
• Citizens Advice Lewisham and its Advice Lewisham partners may have limited capacity to offer appointments
• Appointments may be offered by telephone, video or face to face and the appropriateness of the type of appointment will form part of the advice needs assessment
• Advice Lewisham partner Lewisham and Southwark Age UK can offer home visits but  this is only for clients who are 60 years or over. We cannot currently offer any other home visits.
• Citizens Advice Lewisham reserves the right to not proceed with a referral if the refered client behaves in a rude, aggressive, discriminatory or other inappropriate way.
• Citizens Advice Lewisham reserves the right to reject referrals that are inappropriate or contain insufficient information and will inform you of this.