What Refernet does

Refernet is a UK-based cloud SaaS provider of online referral management software for the UK advice sector, operated by Viccari Wheele Ltd from Hove, East Sussex. Founded in 2005 after the team developed a database project with the Legal Services Commission in Brighton, the platform enables advice agencies, local authorities, charities, healthcare providers, housing trusts, legal services, and Citizens Advice bureaux to make, track, and audit referrals across multi-agency networks. The system is built on ASP.NET with UK Tier 3 / ISO 27001-hosted infrastructure, and offers features including self-referral portals, two-factor authentication, regional multi-agency grouping, instant search, calendar integration, SMS notifications, granular data export, and automatic data anonymisation.

The business sells on an annual subscription basis, with pricing starting at £850+VAT per annum for small advice networks and bespoke regional pricing for county- or country-wide rollouts such as Wales, Greater Manchester, West Lancashire, and Kent (branded as ReferKent). Go-to-market is direct sales via phone demonstrations, supported by a G-Cloud public sector procurement listing, presence at Citizens Advice conferences, and a small organic social footprint. The product is G-Cloud approved and Cyber Essentials certified, with GDPR compliance and full audit trails positioned as core differentiators versus phone, email, or generic case management alternatives.

Name

Refernet

Legal name

Viccari Wheele Ltd

Website

https://refernet.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Refernet is a UK-based SaaS provider of secure online referral management software used by Citizens Advice bureaux, local councils, charities, and partner agencies across the UK to make, track, and audit inter-agency client referrals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Hooe

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Annual Subscription Service: Annual service charges calculated based on agencies in the system, referral activity, population served, and annual turnover. Pricing ranges from as little as £850+VAT per annum for smaller advice networks, with larger organisations paying more. The system is described as 'proven to pay for itself' through offsetting referral admin costs and assisting early intervention.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Refernet is a cloud-based SaaS online referral management system that enables UK advice agencies, councils, charities, Citizens Advice bureaux, and partner organisations to make, track, and audit referrals securely between agencies across towns, cities or regions. The platform is GDPR compliant, hosted in a UK Tier 3 ISO27001 data centre, and is sold via annual subscription with pricing based on the number of agencies, referral activity, population served, and annual turnover, starting from £850+VAT per annum.

Product overview

Refernet is a single-purpose, cloud-based online referral management platform designed for UK advice agencies, councils, charities, and partner organizations. The core Refernet platform provides secure referral management with GDPR compliance, multi-level access controls, and outcome reporting. Additional paid features include the Regional Management module for multi-agency grouping, Self-Referral Portal for public-facing intake, Two-Factor Authentication for enhanced security, Booking Integration with Google/Office365 Calendar, SMS notifications, and Secure Document Transfer. The system is priced based on agencies, referral activity, population served, and annual turnover, starting from £850+VAT per annum.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Refernet Core Platform A secure, cloud-based online referral management system that enables safe referrals between advice agencies, councils, charities, and partner organisations across towns, cities and regions in the UK. Features GDPR compliance, activity and outcomes reporting, multi-level password-protected access, SSL 2048-bit encryption, and UK Tier 3 ISO27001-hosted infrastructure.
• Self-Referral Portal External portal link allowing the general public to securely self-refer to advice agencies through their websites. Includes a consent page, secure data entry, and email notification to nominated agency staff for managing inbound referrals.
• Regional Management Feature Premium feature that groups agencies by region (boroughs, counties, parishes) with regional search, regional reporting, regional self-referral routing, and triage capabilities. Used by Greater Manchester, West Lancashire, Wales, and Kent deployments.
• Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) Security feature providing extra login protection via mobile device authentication code, configurable as optional or mandatory per system.
• Forward a Referral Function allowing referrals to be passed to another agency within the system without re-keying information, with an audit trail recording the reason for forwarding.
• Booking Integration Calendar integration protocol that allows booking alongside referral creation, with Export to Google Calendar and Office 365 Calendar functionality showing limited customer details (Refernet ID and initials) for security.
• SMS Facility Text message service to send updates to clients, including referral ID number and agency information handling their case.
• Secure Document Transfer Secure attachment capability allowing documents to be sent safely between agencies, with access restricted only to parties involved in the referral and virus scanning on upload.
• Data Export & Reporting Visual charts on homepage and referral listing pages showing workflow, plus granular export features allowing specific datasets to be exported to Excel and other programs.
• Instant Search Real-time search capability displaying results as users type, supporting search by name, agency, location, and referral ID, with shortcode support for finding partial referral IDs.
• Agency Visibility Management Exclude function giving administrators granular control over which agencies can see and refer to other agencies in the network, with zoning support for national deployments.

Quantifiable outcome

• Four-fold increase in online referrals at Citizens Advice Peterborough after implementing Refernet
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments9 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature16 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Crown Commercial ServicecoreGTM or Marketing PartnerRefernet is approved and listed on the G-Cloud digital marketplace provided by the Crown Commercial Service, allowing public sector organisations to safely procure the service through established government procurement frameworks. The CCS evaluates suppliers during tender process and provides pre-agreed terms and conditions.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Beacon CRM: Beacon CRM is a purpose-built CRM used by Citizens Advice bureaux and other advice organisations to manage client cases, referrals and outcomes. It directly competes with Refernet at the UK advice-agency workflow layer, including intake/referral tracking functionality.
• Elemental (Access Elemental): Elemental is a UK social prescribing and referral management platform connecting people to community-based services. It directly overlaps with Refernet's referral/network management concept, though with a stronger healthcare/social prescribing orientation.
• AdviceLocal: AdviceLocal provides online referral and signposting tools used by Citizens Advice and advice agencies across the UK. It is a direct competitor to Refernet in the same UK advice-sector referral category, targeting overlapping customer segments with a comparable SaaS model.
• Simply Connect: Simply Connect operates a community-based referral and directory platform in the UK connecting residents with local services and charities. It overlaps with Refernet's referral-intake and self-referral capabilities for community/advice services.

Broad incumbents

• Salesforce.org / Nonprofit Cloud: Salesforce.org provides CRM and case-management capabilities specifically tailored to nonprofits and the public sector. While a broad platform rather than a referral-only tool, it is used by many UK charities and competes for the same technology budget as Refernet.
• Access Mosaic: Access Mosaic (part of The Access Group) is a leading UK case-management platform for social services and local authorities. As a broad incumbent in the same customer ecosystem, it increasingly absorbs referral-style workflows that overlap with Refernet's single-purpose offering.

Emerging players

• CharityLog: CharityLog provides case management and client tracking software for UK charities and community organisations. It overlaps with Refernet at the workflow/referral-tracking layer for the same charity and advice-sector customer base, though it is broader in scope.

Market position

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCUPBUODst4BBWrCgSPA6uLg
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/refernet-limited
• Instagraminstagram.com/refernet.co.uk
• Xx.com/refernetuk

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Refernet