What does the Carers Manchester Contact Point (CMCP) do?

  • We are a gateway to support unpaid carers aged 18+ who live, and/or care for someone who lives, within the Manchester City Council area
  • We provide short-term, telephone-based support (typically over one or two conversations max)
  • We then signpost or refer carers on to other organisations for long-term or specialised support

 Types of initial support explored via the CMCP gateway 

  • Welfare – finance (benefits, debt, carer grants); legal rights relevant to caring role; employment rights etc
  • Health and wellbeing through connection and community support – signposting or referral to local and national organisations that support carers through specialist knowledge; peer support; drop-ins; social activities

 Statutory assessments*

  • For a carer caring for someone aged 18+, we can make a referral on their behalf to Manchester City Council for them to have a Carer’s Assessment/explore an annual Carers Personal Budget
  • For a carer caring for someone under 18, we signpost them to Parent Carer Services such as the Local Offer, Short Breaks and Family Fund. Alternatively, if the parent requires family support intervention from Manchester City Council, they or any person on their behalf can make a referral directly for a Parent Carer Assessment or to the Early Help Team at the Council’s Social Care department (tel: 0161 234 5001; email: mcsreply@manchester.gov.uk)

* CMCP does not carry out any statutory assessments but can provide advice and guidance around them.  We are a gateway to register carers and either refer the carer of someone aged 18+ to the Council for a Carer’s Assessment or provide the carer of someone aged under 18 with signposting information to Parent Carer Services. 

How to make a referral to CMCP

  • Download and complete our referral form
  • Email it to contactpoint@carersmanchester.org.uk (via Egress, where possible, or as a password-protected Word document). The Contact Point inbox is monitored Monday-Thursday 10am– 4pm and Fridays 10am– 3pm (except bank holidays where the CMCP is closed)

To ensure our telephone helpline remains accessible to carers, professionals must email referrals using the referral form only. To discuss a referral in advance or speak with us about any other matter around the outcome of a referral, please email us with the query or to request a call and we will arrange to call you back.

 Following a referral to CMCP 

We aim to get in touch all carers within 48 hours, if not sooner, to notify them that their referral has been received.  Referrals are then triaged to a support worker who contacts the carer to identify and discuss their needs. We can make a maximum of three attempts to contact the carer after which the referral is closed if the carer does not engage.