Social care describes all forms of personal care and practical assistance that adults needing extra help and support might require.

You might need social care after a fall or accident, while recovering from an operation, due to illness, disability or after a major change in your life.

If you, or someone you know who is aged 18 or over, need care and support and live in the area covered by Manchester City Council, you can contact us for advice, information, and an assessment of your needs.

We’ll talk to you about your situation and ask questions to understand how you are currently managing and what your likely needs may be.

We’ll do this even if you choose to pay for services yourself.

We’ll also provide advice, information, and an assessment of your needs if you care for someone else – whether or not they choose to have an assessment themselves.

To be eligible for social care support from us, you need to be assessed against national eligibility criteria contained in the Care Act 2014.

If you don’t meet the criteria, we will still give you information and advice and help you to find services in the community. Some of these services may be free, and can keep you as happy, productive, and independent as possible.

We may also be able to provide you with some equipment, without the need for a full assessment, if that will meet your needs. We call this Technology Enabled Care (TEC), which refers to a number of devices and apps that you can use to help you stay safe and independent at home, at work or within your local community. The equipment is provided by Manchester City Council’s Community Alarms and Technology Enabled Care Team (CATEC).

Assessing your needs

There are different types of assessments we can provide once we know more about your needs and current situation.

For example, our Adult Early Support Team will provide you with bespoke support or information, advice, or guidance to enable you to live well and remain independent at home. They work with you for up to five days, offering care, support, and signposting.

They’ll talk to you about your situation and ask questions to understand how you are currently managing and what support you may need. The support you may require could be provided by adult social care or an external agency.

Or we may decide that you would benefit from Reablement or support from the Building Independence Team. This offers a short-term, intensive package of care to help you regain your independence, using support, guidance, learning and often small pieces of equipment to help you manage. Reablement and support from the Building Independence Team isn’t suitable for everyone and depends on the needs we identify during your assessment.

If you do meet the criteria, we’ll carry out a pre-service financial assessment to work out the maximum charge, if any, you may have to pay. We will then work with you to decide which services you would most benefit from to meet your ongoing needs. This includes working out how much those services should cost – even if you choose to pay for the services yourself.

If you are funding your own care, (often referred to as ‘self- funder’) you are entitled to receive advice and information from us to help you decide on the best options.

These options may include, but are not limited to:

Homecare – provides personal/social care in your own home (also known as domiciliary care)
Care home – provides a home with personal/social care on site 24-7

Day services – provides a range of fun activities to promote independence, health, and wellbeing Supported living – provides a home with extra support to help you live independently.

Financial assessment

Once we’ve identified that you need ongoing care and support, we will offer to carry out a financial assessment.

We will assess your ability to pay towards the cost of those services based on your financial circumstances. This could be some, none, or all the cost of your care package. We complete assessments based on our charging polices.

You can find out more about our charging policies here:

www.manchester.gov.uk/info/100010/social_services /372/paying_for_social_care_and_support

You can choose not to have this financial assessment, but if you do that, we will not be able to help you pay for any services and you will be responsible for paying for all of them.

If your needs change, you can get back in touch with us at any time so that we can review the support you’re getting. We will always speak to you at least every 12 months to make sure that your needs haven’t changed.

At the start of your assessment process, you will be contacted by either a Social Care Assessor or a Social Worker.

Both professions share and draw on a set of core values and principles relating to our strengths-based practice standards. Strengths-based practice means looking at what you can do and how we can support you to be as independent as possible.

These are aligned to what we call the Our Manchester Behaviours that our staff work to which are:

We take time to listen and understand

We work to understand what matters most to you. We acknowledge that you are the expert in your own life, and that solutions often lie within you. We recognise that time spent building positive relationships is fundamental to our ability to work well together. We actively listen, ensuring your personal qualities, interests, abilities, personal resources, and strengths are identified.

We “own it” – we’re not afraid to try new things

We apply our curiosity and creativity to think about how we help you to have a meaningful life. We think about people who can support you – families, social networks, connections in your community. We also consider how technology can help you to lead a more independent life. We don’t assume that you need a service.

We work together, and trust each other

We take time to build relationships and trust so that you can be open and honest with us. We trust the judgement of other colleagues and work together to understand how we can best help you to lead the life that you want to, recognising that we can all grow and change beyond what we currently experience.

We’re proud and passionate about Manchester

We recognise how important community resources are and the benefits of connecting to your neighbourhoods. We actively work with colleagues, so that we share our strengths, knowledge and expertise and have trusting relationships that help us to support and challenge each other. We are driven every day by our passion to want to make a difference to people’s lives.

We show that we value our differences and treat people fairly

We value and celebrate the diversity in our city and workforce, treating people fairly, with dignity and respect.

We want to find out how to support you to be independent. We will ask you some questions about your life and what you enjoy doing. You’re welcome to invite anyone who supports you to join our conversation.

How do I prepare?

Have a think about what being independent means to you. We will discuss:

• What is important to you?
• What is working well now?
• What would you like to change?
• How you can be more independent?

There might be some things you could do for yourself if someone helped you to learn how.

Who can help you be more independent?

You will be asked if there are any people or groups that can help you. This could be family, friends, local groups, or people where you live. There might be things the Council can provide (such as equipment) that can help you. We will let you know more during our conversation.

What will happen next?

After our conversation, there will be actions that you agree to do. For example, there might be somewhere in your local community that can support you with your interests. In this example we would ask you or your support to get in touch with them to find out more. There might also be actions that we have agreed to do. We will do our best to make sure you have the support to be well and independent.

To be assessed as eligible for support, you need to show that:

Social care, unlike health care, is not free. Following on from your Care Needs Assessment, which works out what support you need and how much it will cost to provide, we’ll complete a financial assessment.

This is to work out how much of that cost Manchester City Council can cover, and how much you’ll need to pay for yourself.

Depending on the amount of income, savings, or assets you have, you may have to contribute towards some or all your social care and support services.

There are Government guidelines on how much you can have in savings or assets before you will be asked to pay for your support. Like all Local Authorities, we are obliged to follow these rules.

How we’ll work out the costs

Our Charging Team will undertake a financial assessment to calculate how much support we can give you towards your care and support costs, and how much you will need to pay yourself. This is a calculation based on your income, savings, assets, and expenditure.

This can usually be completed by accessing the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) records, but we may need to ask you for additional information. We may have to ask you about any other income you may receive, your savings and any property you own. We may also ask if you have any housing costs or if you have to pay extra money for things because of a disability or illness.

If you do not want to have a financial assessment, or do not want to provide the information we require for a financial assessment, you will have to pay the full cost of your care.

How savings are treated

Savings are treated in the same way for both residential (care in a residential or nursing home) and non-residential (care within your own home, in a day centre or short break care services in a care home) care services.

• There is a lower capital threshold of £14,250 and an upper capital threshold of £23,250
• Any savings between these capital thresholds will incur a capital tariff of £1 per week for every £250 or part £250. This will be added to your contribution to costs of your care
• If you have savings beneath £14,250 this will not impact on your financial assessment calculation
• If you have savings above £23,250 you will not qualify for financial support from the council. You will be required to pay the full cost of your care.

Importantly, your capital includes savings, investments, and extra property, but does not include the value of the home you live in.

During a needs assessment, we’ll agree the level of support you need with you and translate this into an amount of money required to meet your needs. We call this a personal budget.

Once you know your personal budget and the agreed outcomes it will deliver, there are several ways you can manage your support.

You can choose to:

Have more choice and control over your care and organise your own support, manage your budget, and make all payments yourself. We call this a direct payment

Have us organise your support for you within the levels of your budget and make all the payments. Any contribution you make towards the cost of your support package is paid to the Council.

If you do choose a direct payment, we have our Direct Payments Team who can support you to manage your personal budget by:

• Costing up a care package within budget to ensure that requirements and support outlined in the care and support plan are met, and that appropriate backup arrangements are in place. This could be via formal or informal support, or both
• Advising on flexible and creative approaches to independent living
• Assisting with recruiting staff for those who want to employ a Personal Assistant (PA). A PA is someone who is employed to provide you with care and support to keep you independent at home. Our assistance could include advertising, collating application forms, arranging interviews, and ensuring the correct paperwork (such as police checks and payroll information) are all in place prior to a PA’s employment starting
• Assisting with basic employment advice and providing support around payroll management – including dealing with tax and National Insurance responsibilities

Providing advice and support with the method of accounting for the use of the direct payment as required by the local authority

Supporting to source appropriate care agencies if required and assisting to negotiate and plan support with them to ensure needs are met

Helping and advising you throughout the support planning process and beyond.

We’ll talk to you about your options to help you make your decision.

We will also send you a copy of your care and support plan.

If you are unhappy or dissatisfied with the support included within your care and support plan for any reason, you should:

1. Raise this with your Social Worker or Care Assessor in the first instance. Most disagreements can be resolved by raising your concerns with your Social Worker or Care Assessor.
2. If this does not help to resolve the issue, then your concerns will go to the Senior Social Worker or Team Manager for a discussion with you.
3. If the issue is still not resolved, you have the right to appeal. The appeal process gives you the opportunity to submit any additional information or detail which you feel were not considered during the assessment or were not known at the time. A request for an appeal needs to be made within 10 days of your meeting with the Senior Social Worker/ Team Manager.

You can request an appeal through the Senior Social Worker or Team Manager or your Social Worker or Care Assessor and they will contact the Feedback and Complaints Service. Or you can contact the service directly yourself at:

Customer Feedback
Corporate Complaints Team
PO Box 532
Town Hall
Manchester M60 2LA

Telephone: 0161 234 3012

As part of your care and support plan, you will need to tell us what things are important for you to be able to do either by yourself, or with some help. Sometimes these are called your outcomes. By law, any care and support must promote your wellbeing, so we will talk to you about this.

Once you know what your outcomes are you can start to think about the best way to meet them. This might include help and support from family, friends and neighbours, social services, or support from other places.

If you don’t choose to take up a Direct Payment arrangement (where we help you arrange your own care), then our Brokerage Service will make all the arrangements on your behalf.

Firstly, your Social Care Assessor/Social Worker will produce a care and support plan with you, which outlines exactly what support is needed, and then make arrangements with the providers we work with.

For example, if you need care to continue to live independently at home, they will contact a local Homecare provider to provide the identified care in your Support Plan.

Or, alternatively, if you need supported accommodation, residential or nursing care, they will contact those providers and discuss your needs with them and find out more about waiting times.

The overall aim is to meet your needs quickly and efficiently so you can receive the care that has been identified by your Assessor.

People’s needs can change over time. To make sure you continue to get the correct level of help and support, we will review your support package as a minimum once a year to consider any changes in your circumstances and needs.

This might mean you need less support, your support package doesn’t change, or you may need more support.

If your needs change, you can contact us and arrange a reassessment. Your reassessment will consider your needs and the support we are able to offer, which may have changed.

We also have a system called Trusted Assessors in Manchester that we are introducing across the city following some successful pilots. This allows care providers (homecare companies) to adjust the amount of care that you receive based on real-time information.

For example, if you find that you need less care than originally planned, they can quickly adjust that by providing information to our social work team. This helps ensure you are getting the right amount of care to support your independence and that you don’t have to wait for an annual review to make changes to your package.

There may be a time when you must go into hospital for a planned treatment or an emergency.

If you know in advance, you should let your care providers know the name of the hospital, when you will be going in, and how long you are likely to stay. You may need to make arrangements to take care of things at home, such as the care of a pet, or managing your post.

If you are someone’s carer or your own carer is going into hospital, then it is important you make alternative arrangements. Please also see information on the carers assessment process further in this booklet.

If your hospital stay is an emergency, you should let one of the nurses on the ward know as soon as possible if any of the above situations affect you.

Carers can carry a ‘Carers Emergency Card’ contact card, which tells staff that they care for someone and who to contact. You can find out more in the Supporting Carers section on the next page.

If necessary, when you’re ready to leave hospital, a discharge team (made up of social workers and NHS staff) will discuss the support you have in place to meet any ongoing needs you may have.

Caring can take on many forms, including preparing meals, doing shopping, taking someone to appointments, managing finances, bathing, or toileting, giving medication or emotional support, or doing laundry.

If you support a relative, friend or neighbour, because of their age, physical or learning disability, mental illness or substance misuse (drugs or alcohol) and you are not paid for the support you provide, then you can get advice, support and training to help you in your caring role.

Support from us

We know caring brings many rewards, but it can also be stressful and may affect your own health. We would like you to think about any support that you may need – there will be a carer support group in your neighbourhood, and you have the right to a Carers Assessment if your caring responsibilities are affecting your health and wellbeing.

A Carers Assessment is a good way to find out about the support available to you. Carers can have an assessment even if the person they care for doesn’t receive services themselves. The Carers Assessment lets you explain how caring is affecting your health and wellbeing and helps you think about what would happen if you were unable to care for whatever reason and make a Carer’s Emergency Plan.

Make contact

Manchester City Council and the NHS work in partnership with ‘Carers Manchester’ a network of local Carers organisations.

We encourage all people with a caring responsibility to make contact with the Carers Manchester Contact Point to find out what support would be helpful to you, now or in the future. You can also join the Carers Register so that we can keep in touch about local services and support.

Learn more and get in touch:

• Visit www.carersmanchester.org.uk for information
• Speak to one our specialist Carers Contact Advisors on 0161 543 8000 (Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm except bank holidays). Extended hours are available on Wednesdays from 10am to 6pm
• Email – contactpoint@carersmanchester.org.uk
• If you use Facebook or X (formerly Twitter), you can follow @CarersMcr on X or search ‘CarersManchester’ on Facebook.

If somebody is in immediate danger, dial 999 and ask for the police.

Contact us to report abuse or neglect of an adult with care and support needs. Even if you’re unsure, report it to us so that we can check. You can report your concerns anonymously if you want.

Telephone: 0161 234 5001
Email: mcsreply@manchester.gov.uk

What is abuse?

A safeguarding enquiry under the Care Act 2014 is triggered when a local authority has reasonable cause to suspect that abuse could be occurring. Abuse is when someone hurts you or treats you badly. It can take many forms including:

• Physical abuse – This is when someone physically hurts you by hitting, kicking, pulling hair, pinching, shaking or giving you too much medication so you find things difficult to do.
• Sexual abuse – This is when someone makes you do sexual things that make you sad, angry, or frightened. Sexual abuse is being touched where you do not want to be touched, such as your private parts (penis or vagina), your bum or your breasts.
• Emotional abuse – This is when people say bad things to hurt your feelings; shout at you or threaten you. Examples include calling you names, laughing at you, blaming you for things when it’s not your fault, treating you like a child, ignoring you, controlling what you do or intimidating you.
• Financial or material abuse – This is when someone takes your money or belongings without asking, for example stealing your money, making you pay for other people’s things, not letting you decide how your money is spent and spending any money you get to pay for care on other things, people, or for illegal purposes.
• Neglect – This is when people who are supposed to help you don’t look after you properly, for example not giving you enough food, not keeping you warm and safe, not giving you medication, not taking you to the doctors if you are ill or not giving you clean clothes to wear.
• Discriminatory abuse – This is being treated unfairly because you have different colour skin, have a different religion, are disabled, are attracted to people of the same gender, speak a different language or are a certain age.
• Organisational abuse – This is when people who support you do things that are better for them, and not for you, for example offering little or no choice about the services you receive, restricting your freedom unnecessarily or making decisions on your behalf such as when you go to bed or get up.
• Self-neglect – This is where a person doesn’t or can’t look after themselves properly, and covers a wide range of behaviour that includes neglecting health, neglecting personal hygiene, hoarding or not looking after your personal surroundings.
• Modern slavery – This includes human trafficking.
• Self-neglect – This is where a person doesn’t or can’t look after themselves properly, and covers a wide range of behaviours including neglecting health, neglecting personal hygiene, hoarding or not looking after your personal surroundings.
• Domestic violence and abuse – This includes a range of behaviours including physical, emotional, sexual, and financial abuse, within all types of relationships. This can include threats, constant criticism, isolation, control of money and forced sex. It’s also when you change your behaviour because you’re scared of someone. It could be your partner, ex-partner, or another family member. It can also include so-called ‘honour’ based abuse, forced marriage and female genital mutilation. Domestic violence and abuse involve any single incident or pattern of incidents where someone’s behaviour towards another is abusive, and where the people involved are aged 16 or over.
• Radicalisation – This is the process by which a person comes to support terrorism and forms of extremism that lead to terrorism. Adults at risk can be exploited by people who seek to involve them in terrorism or activity in support of terrorism.

What happens after you have told us

We’ll ask you to give details about the situation.

If anyone is in physical danger, action will be taken to make sure they are safe. In other cases, the action we take will depend upon the wishes of the person being abused, and the seriousness of the situation.

Trained staff will carry out a careful and sensitive enquiry about how best to deal with the situation.

We will offer advice and information so that the person being abused can make an informed choice about any practical help they need or any action they wish to take.

If the person is unable to make an informed choice, care will be taken to support and protect them.

We call this Safeguarding.

To help us understand and meet your needs we ask you to give us information about yourself. Usually, this information will be written down and is held on a secure system.

The information we keep includes your name, address, and date of birth as well as names and contact details of close relatives and carers.

We also gather information during your assessment about your health and your support needs. We keep a record of meetings and any letters or correspondence about the support you receive.

Where we work with other people to plan and provide your support we will need to share information with them. We’ll ask you to agree that we can do this.

We are committed to keeping your records safe and confidential and have strict guidelines to ensure that we respect your rights.

You can request to see your social care record at any time.

HSM is the online resource for adults, carers of adults, their friends and relatives who want to find support services and a wide range of opportunities to help you get the most out of life.

This directory has detailed information about more than 2,000 services and community-based activities in and around Manchester. These range from advice about benefits, yoga classes for disabled people, as well as social opportunities and other services to help improve residents’ quality of life.

To find out about the range of services and support go online at:

www.manchester.gov.uk/helpandsupportmanchester

How you can get involved

Manchester City Council and Manchester Local Care Organisation greatly value the input of customers to help in the design and delivery of services. There are several ways you can get involved, including customer surveys, feedback requests, customer groups and co-production.

To find out more about how you can get involved:
Telephone: 0161 234 5001
Email: asccoproduction@manchester.gov.uk