Our dedicated surplus team are on hand, but your query may be answered in our FAQ section. Please check our FAQs carefully before requesting support.
Read our FAQs below before submitting a support query. If you submit a support request for information that is available on this page, it may not be processed.
Charity partner checklist
When signing up to collect surplus, your charity partners agree to:
Disclaimer: Please get in touch via the query link at the bottom of this page if your charity partner is not meeting these requirements.
Top tips
We’ve put together a few important pointers to help your collections go smoothly.
Frequently asked questions
Browse our list of FAQs to find an answer to the most common queries we get submitted.
Missed Collections
| Our charity partner has missed today’s collection - can you follow up? |
| Please report missed collections via the Neighbourly Platform by selecting ‘No – Not collected’ on the Collection Confirmation box and dispose of the food via the usual store process. We monitor missed collections and check-in with charities after repeat missed collections. The occasional missed collection can happen unfortunately as the vast majority of charities are under-resourced and rely on volunteers who can have issues with transport / illness etc. |
| Our charity partner is frequently missing collections - can they be replaced? |
| We will contact the charity to check their suitability for the programme. If they are unable to commit to regular collections or do not get back to us after 7 days, we will look to remove them from the schedule. |
Charity Schedule
| Why is there more than one charity assigned to my store? |
| Charities may not have the resources to collect 7 days a week from your store, so more than one charity has been scheduled. This ensures that the maximum amount of food can be donated. |
| Our charity partner has informed me of a collection break, what do we do? |
| We aim to provide every store with a Primary and Backup charity every day. When a Primary charity is on collection break, the Backup charity will receive alerts and collect in their place. If you do not have a Backup charity, please get in touch via the query link at the bottom of this page. |
| What should I do if I work for a new store and have not been contacted by Neighbourly about charity collections? |
| Please get in touch via the query link at the bottom of this page. |
| A charity has come into the store asking if they can start collecting food / I would like to nominate a local charity. How can I do this? |
| Please get in touch via the query link at the bottom of this page. |
Collection Code Process
| Our charity partner hasn’t provided a code / has provided an incorrect code - can you follow up? |
| Please check that the correct charity is collecting by reviewing the charity name on the Collection Confirmation box and asking which charity the collector represents. Once you’ve verified the correct charity is collecting, release the donation items as per usual and tick the relevant box ‘I received an incorrect code’ / ‘I didn’t receive a code’, as well as ‘I have checked the charity collecting is correct’. Neighbourly sends an automated email to charities whenever an ‘incorrect code’ or ‘no code’ is reported to ask them what went wrong and remind them of the process. Please be patient with your charity partner as they get to grips with this new process. |
| Our charity partner is continuing to have issues with providing codes - can they be replaced? |
| We will not replace charities that are struggling to adopt this new process. Instead, we would encourage you to ask whether you could phone one of the charity’s representatives for the code on the day(s) they collect. If this is not possible, please get in touch via the query link at the bottom of this page. |
| A charity has arrived without a code and their name does not match that on the collection confirmation box - what should we do? |
| It is vitally important that stores check that they are releasing the donation to their scheduled charity partner. In these cases, we ask stores to politely tell the volunteer that another charity partner is scheduled to collect that day and for traceability / Health & Safety reasons you are only authorised to release the donation to the scheduled charity. |
| Why does the Platform say there is no collection scheduled for today? |
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This message will appear if there is no charity scheduled to collect, or if the store did not scan any items for donation the day before, rather than night before. |
| Why does the Platform say no charities are able to collect? |
| The scheduled charity partner (and Backup if scheduled) has let us know that they cannot attend today’s collection. You do not need to record anything on the Platform. Please dispose of the food via the usual store process |
| Our scheduled charity partner hasn’t attended the collection, but I’m unable to select ‘No - Not collected’? |
| You are unable to select ‘No - Not collected’ until after 1pm to give charities a chance to collect - they could be running late. If it is after 1pm and you are still unable to select ‘No - Not collected’, please get in touch via the query link at the bottom of this page. |
| Our Primary charity partner hasn’t attended, can you send an alert to the Backup charity? |
| We cannot send alerts to the Backup charity partner after the collection window ends. Please record a missed collection and we will check-in with the charity partner accordingly. Our check-in emails to charities include a reminder to reject donations if the charity cannot attend, so a Backup can receive alerts. |
Food Donation Process
| What happens if there is a product recall? |
| Neighbourly will facilitate any communications to charities directly concerning product recalls. stores do not need to tell the charities what to do in these types of situations. |
| How can I find out how much my store has donated? |
| You can find out how much has been donated by your store on the Platform. |
| My store is showing as non-compliant on a certain day, but we did scan surplus on the day in question. |
| The compliance reports refer to the day surplus food should have been collected, so the day after the surplus food was scanned to the charity code. Additionally, surplus scanned using the MDT or in- store PC (stores 2014) will not be captured. Please ensure that all surplus food is ONLY scanned through the till. |
Submit a query
If you didn’t find an answer above, submit a query so we can handle it.