Surrey Welfare Rights Unit

Who is this course for? 

This course is for anyone who needs to be able to advise on benefits and wants to understand the landscape of working age social security. The course covers the existing social security system including Tax Credits. The Universal Credit content will reflect advice requirements in Surrey ahead of the full service roll-out.  Trainee advisers who are now advising clients will build on their basic benefit training.  More experienced advisers will benefit from consolidating their knowledge of individual benefits to gain a comprehensive overview of the inter-relationship of benefits.

Aim

To allow both new and more experienced advisers to become more familiar with working age benefits by providing practical examples. To provide a context for understanding how individual benefits inter-relate.  At the end of the course you will have good foundation knowledge of the system and how to support your clients with their entitlements.

Objectives

By the end of the course advisers should be aware of:

• • The difference between means tested and non-means tested benefits and how they link together
  • The basic rules of entitlement to sickness and disability benefits
  • The basic qualifying rules for income-related benefits
  • How to carry out a benefits check – identifying potential entitlement to benefits
  • Benefit “passports”