You sent the reference request four days ago. Nothing back. You sent a follow-up. Still nothing. The school is asking for an update. The candidate is asking for an update. And somewhere out there, a headteacher is getting on with their day, apparently unaware that you're waiting.
It's one of the most frustrating parts of education recruitment. I spent seven years running an agency, and this never stopped being maddening. Most of the reasons it happened were completely avoidable.
Here's what's actually going on when a referee goes quiet, and what to do about each one.
The email got buried
This is the most common cause, by some distance. The referee received your request, registered it somewhere in the back of their mind, and then the rest of their day happened. A headteacher managing 600 pupils and a staff of 50 does not have a reference request queue. It landed in a full inbox and got pushed down by everything else.
This isn't rudeness. It's just physics. Busy people defer things with no deadline and no consequence for deferral. Your reference request, however important it is to you, has both of those problems.
What to do: follow up faster than you think you should. 48 hours, not five days. A brief, direct email: you're following up on the reference request sent on [date], the placement is due [date], and any help getting this back would be appreciated. Keep it short. One paragraph, one ask, one deadline.
The contact details are wrong
The person your candidate named as a referee may have left. Headteachers move schools. Line managers take different roles. Agency contacts change. A request sent to a departed employee can sit in an auto-forward, bounce, or disappear entirely. You may not find out for a week.
This one stings.
What to do: verify before you send. Check the school's website for the current headteacher. If the referee is at another recruitment agency, call them quickly to confirm the contact is still in post. It takes two minutes. It saves days.
For supply candidates who've worked through another agency, it's worth calling that agency directly rather than emailing a contact that might have changed. Agencies in the sector understand the process. A quick call is usually faster than any email chain.
They don't know what you want from them
"Could you provide a reference for [candidate]?" is a question that invites a guess. What does a reference look like? How long should it be? What does it need to cover? Most referees have written a handful of references in their career. They're not experts in what your agency needs to be KCSiE-compliant.
The result is a response that covers the wrong things, is too brief to be useful, or never comes because the referee opened the email, felt unsure about what to do, and closed it again to deal with later.
What to do: use a structured form, not a freeform email request. A structured form removes the guesswork: dates of employment, suitability for work with children, disciplinary history, reason for leaving. The referee fills in fields rather than staring at a blank page. Forms get completed faster and produce better responses. There's more on this in our guide to checking references for teachers.
The form is too long
The opposite problem. Some agencies send reference forms that run to three pages of open-ended questions, detailed boxes for supporting statements, and instructions that need reading before anything can be filled in.
A headteacher who opens a form that long will close it and move on to something else. They'll come back to it. Probably.
What to do: make the form as short as it can be while still covering what KCSiE requires. Five or six specific questions is usually enough. If you need more detail on something, ask in a follow-up after the main reference comes back. Get the core information first.
They're getting the same request from multiple agencies
A well-placed, experienced candidate may be registered with more than one supply agency. All of them need references before the candidate can be placed. All of them sent requests to the same headteacher.
From the referee's side, it looks like the same task asked several times over, from people they don't know, in slightly different formats. There's no obvious reason to prioritise one over another. The whole pile goes in the "get to eventually" category.
What to do: this one is harder to solve. The best you can do is make your request the easiest to respond to (short form, clear instructions, clear deadline) and follow up promptly. If you have a relationship with the candidate, it can help to ask them to give the referee a quick heads-up that your request is coming.
No deadline was given
"At your earliest convenience" is not a deadline. It gives the referee no information about what's actually needed, so there's no urgency. The request sits in a mental list of things to do when there's time. For a headteacher, there is rarely time.
What to do: always give a specific date. Not "as soon as possible." Not "when you get a chance." Something like: "We're looking to proceed with this placement by [date] and would be grateful to receive the reference by [earlier date]." A date makes the ask concrete. It also gives the referee the context to judge whether they need to move it up their list.
What makes the biggest difference
Each of these fixes helps on its own. But the single biggest factor is having a consistent follow-up process rather than relying on whoever happens to remember to check.
When chasing depends on an individual consultant's memory and workload, some candidates get chased twice a day and others get chased once in a fortnight. The follow-up is inconsistent, so results are inconsistent.
A system that sends a first chase at 48 hours and a second at 96 hours, every time, for every candidate, outperforms any individual's best effort. The emails aren't better. They just go out reliably.
There's a detailed breakdown of how to build that process in our guide to automating reference checks.
One more thing
A referee who takes two weeks to respond is usually not being difficult. They're a headteacher or a line manager with a full job to do, and responding to your reference request is an unpaid addition to it.
Treating them as a problem to solve rarely helps. A brief, polite, specific request, followed up at the right time and in the right format, almost always does.
Frequently asked questions
Why isn't my referee responding to the reference request? The most common reason is the email got buried. Headteachers and line managers are busy, and a reference request with no deadline gets deferred. Other causes: wrong contact details, unclear expectations, a form that's too long, or the referee getting duplicate requests from multiple agencies.
How quickly should I follow up on a reference request? Follow up at 48 hours, not five days. A brief email with the original send date, the placement deadline, and a clear ask is enough. One paragraph, one ask, one deadline.
What's the best way to chase a referee who hasn't responded? After a 48-hour email follow-up, try calling the school reception rather than sending another email. A human voice moves things faster. Chase mid-morning or just after lunch when school staff are most accessible.
How do I stop reference requests going to the wrong person? Check the school's website for the current headteacher or line manager before sending. If the candidate worked through another agency, call to confirm the contact is still in post. Two minutes of verification saves days of chasing.
Should I give referees a deadline for reference requests? Yes. "At your earliest convenience" is not a deadline. Give a specific date tied to the placement timeline, e.g. "We need this by Friday to proceed with the placement on Monday." A date makes the ask concrete and lets the referee prioritise.
How many times should you chase a reference? A consistent system works best: first chase at 48 hours by email, second at 96 hours, then flag for a phone call. This should happen for every candidate, every time, regardless of how busy the week is.
PassQ automates reference request sending, chasing, and tracking for education recruitment agencies. If your team is losing time to follow-ups that could run on a system, get in touch.
Want to see PassQ in action?
Try 5 references free. We'll set you up in a 20-minute call.
Try 5 references free