Duty to refer (for professionals)

You must:

• have consent for the referral from the individual
• allow the individual to identify the area that they would like the referral to be made to (this can only be within England)
• have consent from the individual that their contact details can be shared with Waverley so that they we can contact them after the referral has been made.

Consider a local connection

Although clients are able to express where they would like the referral to be made, they are generally best made to the area where the individual has a local connection.

This is where someone:

• has lived for six months out of the last 12
• has lived for three years out of the last five years
• is employed
• has close family members (and they have lived there for the last five years).  This generally means parents, adult children or adult siblings.
• has no safe local connection anywhere.

People leaving care

If a local connection is held with any individual district or borough in Surrey then they will have a local connection with all districts and boroughs in Surrey, including Waverley. 

In addition to this, a young person will have a local connection if s/he has been living in an area for a continuous period of two years or more, some or all of which must be before their 16th birthday (this does not apply after they have reached 21).

• Prisons
• Youth Offender Institutions
• Secure training centres
• Secure colleges
• Youth Offending teams
• Probation Services (including Community Rehabilitation Companies)
• JobCentre Plus
• Social Service Authorities
• Emergency Departments
• Urgent Treatment Centres
• Hospital in the function of providing inpatient care
• The Secretary of State for Defence in relation to members of the regular forces

A duty to refer referral does not constitute a homeless application.

However, our housing options team will contact the individual, arrange a housing options assessment and look at what advice and possible assistance we can give them to resolve their housing issues. 

Please make referrals online on the Duty to Refer portal:

Duty to Refer portal (Alert)