Introduction to Welfare Benefits

Who is this course for?

New in post? New role? Need to know about benefits?

This course provides an introduction to the Social Security system giving an overview of contribution based and non-contributory benefits as well as providing a foundation knowledge for Universal Credit and legacy benefits.

Aims

To raise awareness and increase knowledge of the structure of the Social Security welfare benefit system in order to help clients maximise their income through claiming appropriate benefits.

Objectives

At the end of this course you will:

• have an overview of the welfare benefit system for working age claimants.
• be able to identify appropriate benefits for specific client groups.
• have been introduced to the concepts of contributory, non-contributory and means tested benefits.
• recognise the interaction between benefits.
• understand the key elements of Universal Credit, including the calculation.
• have been provided with a working knowledge of legacy benefits and who may still be receiving them.

Outline of sessions

The course consists of 5 training sessions of 2 hours each spread over 3 weeks.

Part 1    Benefit system framework and contribution-based benefits
Part 2    Non-contributory benefits including disability and Carer benefits
Part 3    Universal Credit –rules of entitlement and maximum amounts
Part 4    Universal Credit calculations
Part 5    Legacy benefits and when clients may still be claiming these

When we send out the link to join the meeting we will include an electronic UC calculation sheet for use in Part 4. If you prefer a paper copy you will need to print out 5 copies for the session.