Opening Hours / Contact Us

Service Availability

If you would like some advice or support, please take some time to read the information below for guidance on the service and how to contact us, confidentiality and how we use your data.

Following the latest government advice, we’ve made some changes to the way we’re running the Advice Service. Our advisors are working remotely and appointments will mainly be available by video-call or telephone. For the time being, it isn’t possible for you to drop in and speak to an advisor.

Our telephone line isn't currently being answered but we're looking at ways we can get this up and running as soon as possible.

Due to Covid restrictions, our office on the 1st floor of the Students’ Union building is currently closed.  We will update our website and communicate with our students when we are able to operate from the Students’ Union building again.

We will work with you to provide our service in the most accessible way for you. We want our service to be accessible to all who need to use it. We understand there may be times when we need to change the way we do things so that you can use our service. If you think we can help you by making some adjustments, please tell us.

About Us

We are a team of professional advisors and support assistants, here to provide you with free, confidential and independent advice. We offer specialist, student centred advice. You won’t find any judgement. Just a friendly listening ear from experienced, trained advisors, there to support you during your time at Manchester. No problem is too big or small. Whether it’s a quick question or something more serious, we’re here to help.

We offer advice and help on all sorts of issues relating to student life. Our four main areas of work include Academic, Housing, Student Finance and Health and Welfare. Things we can help with include difficulties with your course or going through a University procedure, problems with accommodation, queries on student finance and additional funding or if you need some support with any personal issues relating to your health and welfare.

Contact Us

We’re developing a range of resources and tools to help you solve any problems you might face during your time at University. This includes a brand new advice website, where you’ll find comprehensive and up to date information and guidance on all aspects of student life.

If you can’t find the answer your looking for on our website or you would like some extra help and support, our advisors will be there to assist you. For the best way to contact us, e-mail 24/7 on advice.su@manchester.ac.uk. Our mailbox is monitored regularly from Monday to Friday between 10am and 4pm. Please include your student ID, course information and a summary of your enquiry. See below for how we use your data.

You may receive a reply outside of our standard opening hours as staff working patterns can vary and we offer flexible working.

Opening Hours

The Advice Service is open between 10am and 4pm, Monday to Friday, both in and out of term time.

We only usually close on weekends, public holidays and for staff training, development or administration days. There may be occasional days when we are closed due to short staffing.

Response Times

We normally aim to reply e-mails within 5 working days. You may not have to wait the full 5 days for a reply, but our response times can be longer during periods of high demand or short staffing. The corona virus pandemic has affected our capacity and we are currently operating with a smaller team. As a result you may find that our response times are longer for the next few weeks.

We understand that you may be very worried and could be facing challenging circumstances and we would like to reassure you that we'll always try our best to get back to you as soon as we can.

We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused and appreciate your patience during this period.

Advisors will try to prioritise enquiries by urgency. Where a deadline applies, we will try to get back to you within this timeframe but we cannot guarantee this. We may also not be able to give advice at short notice. We ask you to contact us at least 5 working days before any official deadline you are working to.

Confidentiality

The Advice Service is confidential. This means we won’t share your personal information or case details to anyone outside of the service unless we have your permission or there are exceptional reasons to do so. For example, if you tell us about a significant risk of harm to

yourself or others we may have to report our concerns to the University or emergency services.

Recording and storing your details

We collect and maintain confidential records of your personal information, details of your enquiry and any advice given. We do this to ensure we are giving accurate and appropriate advice and so that we can offer ongoing support with your case. Records are stored for 6 years after the date we close your case.

Information such as your gender or course may also be collected for statistical purposes but we will not identify you when compiling reports. Statistical information helps us to monitor groups who are using our Service so we can ensure accessibility or act on trends if a group of students is facing a disadvantage.

If you have any questions or concerns about how we use your data, please contact us.

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