How to Access / How to Refer / How to Donate / FAQ’s

Service Update 

We are grateful to be able to help hundreds of people with essential furniture every year. We delivered 850+ items to individuals and families in need during 2023. Thank you to everyone who has referred to this service to identify where there has been an emergency need.

In the last 2 months of 2023 alone, we received 101 new referrals to our furniture services. To ensure that nobody must wait longer than they should, we are now temporarily closed to new furniture referrals whilst we help everybody that we can from our current waiting list. We will update our website when our furniture services are open to new referrals again.

If you or somebody you know is in emergency need of furniture, please see below for a list of services which may be of assistance.

What is the Furniture Project?

The Furniture Project was launched in January 2010 after a ‘gap’ was identified in the provision of affordable furniture items to those on low income.

The project aims to meet this need, providing reduced cost furniture to those with genuine need, operating on a referral-basis.

Referred eligible clients are invited to appointments where they have access to our catalogue of reduced cost furniture items.

The project aims to stock essential furniture and electrical items, delivering and installing where necessary in the City of Leicester. These items include beds, cabinets, sofas, dining tables and chairs, coffee tables, wardrobes, chests of drawers, fridges, freezers, washing machines and microwaves.

The Furniture service:

The need for affordable furniture in Leicester has been increasing, with more individuals applying to Open Hands for help. In order to ensure this service remains available to those most in need, Open Hands have re-structured the service. This re-structure includes a clarification between our emergency and low-cost options. The majority of clients are only eligible for low-cost support (see our definition of emergency below), however it is still possible to request free furniture through filling in an additional questionnaire.

We remain committed to tackling furniture poverty through supporting Leicester households in need of furniture. Please see our definition of ‘emergency need’ below:

• Households with restricted or no financial means to purchase essential items of furniture at retail price.
• Households who are unable to access furniture elsewhere. See below for examples:
• Households who do not currently have (functional) furniture items they are requesting (e.g. we will not provide a sofa to a household who already has one)

 

Leicester City Council funding	Community Support Grant scheme
Other Leicester charities	Work Link Hinckley  Charity Link  Vicar’s relief fund
Charity shops and second-hand shops	LOROS   The British Heart Foundation  Age UK  The Air Ambulance  Sue Ryder  The Second-Hand Furniture Warehouse
White good provision via utility providers	EDF
Purchase through a social fund loan / affordable credit	See examples from EndFurniturePoverty.org here And the guide here
Charitable grants	Lightning Reach Portal grant finder Turn2Us  grant search tool Glasspool Trust Buttle UK Family Fund

As this is a referral-only service, our prices are always significantly less than retail (please see below for price estimates).  

To access the furniture project

If you need help with furniture, or you know an individual or family who are in genuine need, a referral can be made by someone who knows you/the individual in need on a professional basis (such as a support worker, housing officer, child’s school teacher or doctor).

A referral form will allow an individual to access our services for 6 months whilst they are still in need. If an individual’s details or situation changes during this period we kindly ask that a new referral form is completed to enable us to update our database appropriately.

Please note that as we rely on donations we cannot guarantee that all requested items will be available.

Donating furniture?

For info on furniture donations please see our furniture donation page.

Referring to our Furniture Project

Our furniture services are available to those in genuine need on receipt of:

• An Open Hands referral form (see below to obtain),
• Means-testing documents (see below), and,
• A pre-arranged appointment.

Please note that we are currently not able to supply furniture to furnished properties including National Asylum Support Service (NASS) accommodation.

Access to the delivery address should be considered when choosing furniture items to ensure that a delivery is possible. Every client will be required to agree and sign a copy of the charity’s policy before a delivery is arranged. Please take the time to read our furniture policies before accessing our service: Client Furniture Policy / Support Worker Furniture Policy

Due to current demand for affordable furniture, we are only able to supply a maximum of 5 items of furniture per referral.

To refer to this service, please email Admin@openhandsleicester.org.uk to request a referral form.

Means-testing & payment

To ensure we prioritise those most in need we operate a means-testing procedure in which individuals are asked to provide evidence of their income, including access to any benefits they may receive.

Receipt of income / benefit:	Those with access to income / benefit will be eligible to access our furniture services at low cost. Please see below paragraph for cost estimates.
No access to public funds:	For those with no recourse to public funds, we will consider each individual’s circumstances and act accordingly to meet their needs.

For those purchasing items we require cash or card payment on the day of the appointment. We can advise that the furniture we provide is nearly all second hand, and that costs range depending on the weight and bulk of the item, in addition to the amount of testing required to make it safe. Graded and new items will be priced higher. All monies received will be reinvested into the work of Open Hands in order to enable its furniture project to continue to support those in need.

Price estimates:

Beds (incl. mattress)	£15 – £40
Chest of drawers	£10 – £25
Wardrobes	£15 – £35
Sofas	£20 – £60
Dining tables and chairs (sets)	£20 – £60
Washing machines	£35 – £75
Fridges/freezers	£20 – £70
Microwaves	£5 – £15

Appointments

Furniture is allocated on an appointment basis only. Once we receive a completed and signed referral form we will call your client to arrange an appointment when they reach the top of the waiting list.

Appointments will take place at: The Open Hands Compassion Centre (19 Lower Willow Street, Leicester, LE1 2HP).

FAQ’s

Question: How long is the waiting list for furniture help?
Answer: It depends on the urgency of the request, however unless the referral is both an emergency and qualifies for free support the waiting list is ~9 weeks. The reason the waiting list is this long is three-fold. Firstly, due to the volume of referrals made to the service; secondly due to a high volume of missed appointments; and thirdly due to limited team and volunteer capacity to deliver the service.

Question: What happens if my client misses their appointment?
Answer: Should an appointment be missed by your client with no suitable reason given prior to the appointment time, they will move the end of the waiting list before another appointment is arranged.

Question: What does a referral cover?
Answer: A referral form only covers the need specified on the submitted form (up to 5 items). These are the only items that will be able to be discussed at an appointment.

Question: How long is a referral valid for?
Answer: A referral form is valid for 6 months. After this time, if the need has not been met or if a new area of need is ascertained, a new referral will need to be submitted.

Question: Is it possible to set up a payment plan?
Answer: Unfortunately, Open Hands do not have the resources to support this activity at this time. If you are able to provide this service as a referring organisation we support it.

Question: Can items be reserved for purchase at a future date?
Answer: Open Hands do not have the resources to support this activity at this time, please read our support worker furniture policy.

Question: Is it possible to pay on behalf of your client?
Answer: We are unable to accept payments from organisations on behalf of clients. If you are looking to pay as an individual, while we cannot stop you, we do not recommend it. The price of the furniture supplied through this service is aimed at being affordable for the individuals referred (well below market rate), and as such does not cover the charities costs in delivering this service. If you would like to support the sustainability of this service please see our donation page.