Supporting People services in Manchester

Manchester City Council spends £41 million on the provision of housing related support services for 14,000 vulnerable Manchester residents each year. This is known as the Supporting People Partnership Fund and is the third largest fund in the Country.

The Supporting People programme offers vulnerable people the opportunity to improve the quality of their lives by providing a stable environment that enables greater independence. It delivers high quality, strategically planned housing related support services, which are cost effective and reliable and which complement existing care services.

What is ‘housing related support’?

Housing related support means advice and help to make it easier for people to live independently.  This can be by helping people to avoid homelessness or an undesirable move into an institution. It can also be about providing an immediate refuge to homeless people or those at risk of violence. It means enabling, reminding or assisting service users to live independently and to maintain their accommodation.

In practice housing related support can include:

• Someone who helps service users to manage money and pay bills.
• A community alarm service or a warden or scheme manager who is there in case service users need help.
• Someone who helps service users to live independently.
• Someone who helps service users to maintain their tenancy.

‘Supporting People’ does not pay for any care that service users receive; this continues to be paid for separately. For example the Supporting People Fund does not pay for someone who makes meals or for personal care.

Who provides support?

A vast range of organisations provide housing-related support services across Manchester. Providers include the city council, private companies, voluntary organisations, the NHS, home improvement agencies, housing associations and other not-for-profit landlords and charities.
The Supporting People programme gives the city council responsibility for co-ordinating these support services. Every provider has a contract with the council to provide agreed levels of support. We review all services to ensure that support across Manchester is high quality, reasonably priced, relevant and in the right places.

Who can receive support?

Most of us want to live independently in our own homes. But many people need some help and support.  They might need support because they're young and at risk, or an older person who needs help at hand. Or they may have a physical, sensory or learning disability. They could be homeless, at risk of domestic violence or have a drug or alcohol dependency for instance.

Practical advice and help

Supporting people is about guidance and practical advice and help. It could include: helping someone manage their money and pay their bills; a community alarm or warden service; or advice about keeping to the rules in the tenancy agreement. 

What kind of support is provided?

The way in which these support services are provided varies according to the needs of the individual receiving them; for example the Supporting People Partnership funds the support services used by older people in sheltered housing and funds the housing related support element of the support and care received by learning disabled people living in the community.

Manchester Supporting People service directory

The service directory lists all the services (more than 300) which Manchester Supporting People is in contract with to provide support to service users in Manchester.  You can search for services which provide support for people with a particular need, or if you know it, by the provider or service name.  You will get full details of all the services, including information on how to contact services to find out more about them.   A lot of services will have contact details such as a telephone number or address so that you can contact the service directly.  There may be also be contact details for an organisation you can contact if you want more information on a particular service.

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