Renfrewshire Council

What the community meals service is

Our community meals service provides hot and cold meals to people who may find it hard to shop for food or prepare food themselves.

The service can help you maintain your independence while providing nutritious meals that we deliver to your home.

We deliver hot or cold meals to your door between 11:45am and 3pm.

The service is available 7 days a week all year round, including weekends, public holidays, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year's Day.

You can choose which days you would like to receive meals, if you do not want to use the service every day.

Our drivers will also plate the food for the person when they deliver it.

They will report any concerns they may have when delivering the meal, such as:

• if a person does not have plates or cutlery for the driver to plate and serve the food
• if they are worried that a person may not be eating.

Who can get community meals

You, or someone you care for, could get community meals if you're unable to shop for or prepare meals.

This includes if you:

• have medical problems or illness
• have mobility issues
• experience confusion due to dementia, Alzheimer's or other similar conditions
• have physical disabilities
• are about to be discharged from hospital and need short term help to maintain your nutritional wellbeing.

When applying for community meals, our social work team will carry out an assessment of your needs to ensure you meet the eligibility criteria.

What meals you can get

Hot or cold meals are delivered once a day between 11:45am and 3pm.

We can cater for dietary requirements such as:

• soft/pureed diet
• gluten free
• allergies
• diabetes
• vegetarian
• halal.

You can choose to have either 2 items or 4 items as part of your meal.

We have a 21-day rolling menu system with a different meal every day and options to suit likes and dislikes.

How much it costs

A meal with 2 items costs £3.17 per day, including delivery.

A meal with 4 items costs £6.34 per day, including delivery.

We'll bill you every 4 weeks.

How to get community meals

You can make a request to start using our community meals service by contacting our Adult Services Referral Team (ASeRT).

You can contact the team by phoning 0300 300 01380.

Then, they'll refer your request to our social work team, who'll carry out an assessment of your needs. This is how we decide if our community meals service is suitable for you.

How to cancel your meals

Cancelling for a short period of time

If you, or a person you help care for, are not going to be at home or want to cancel a meal, you'll need to contact us at least 24 hours before you're due to receive the meal.

You can tell us you'd like to cancel a meal by phoning 0300 300 0366.

If you do not contact us to cancel a meal, then you'll still need to pay for that meal.

If you're not home when a driver arrives to deliver your meal, they will not be able to leave it for you. You'll still need to pay for the meal even if it cannot be delivered.

Cancelling all your meals

If you no longer want to receive community meals, please tell one of the following:

• social worker
• adult service coordinator
• service coordinator
• community meals staff.

Or you can phone us on 0300 300 0366.

This phone number is only for use by people who are already using our community meals service. Any other requests to the service should be made by phoning ASeRT on 0300 300 1380.

You can choose to suspend your community meals for up to 9 days, but this could be extended in special circumstances, such as respite care or a holiday.

If you're unable to provide a date to resume using the service, then your meals will be stopped after 9 days.

More information

If you'd like more information about our community meals service, phone 0300 300 0366.