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Training Fund: Strengthening Welfare Benefits Advice for Clients

Training Fund: Strengthening Welfare Benefits Advice for Clients

Training Fund: Strengthening Welfare Benefits Advice for Clients

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

 

Louise from Pobl, which works with people who are experiencing homelessness and living in temporary accommodation across Monmouthshire, explains how the training fund has helped her team feel more confident in supporting their clients to better advise and advocate for them.

Through the Training Fund, Pobl’s TARS team received specialised welfare benefits training, empowering them to advocate for their clients with confidence, resulting in greater financial stability for those they support.

Pobl is a not-for-profit housing provider in Wales, with a commitment to making a difference in the communities they work in. Louise’s team work on Pobl’s ‘Monmouthshire Temporary Accommodation Resettlement Scheme’ (TARS), supporting people who are experiencing homelessness and living in temporary accommodation across Monmouthshire. By applying to the Training Fund, Louise’s team were able to attend training on Welfare Benefits, enabling them to better advise and advocate for their clients.

The Need: Empowering In-House Expertise

The number of people in temporary accommodation in Wales soared during the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to Pobl winning funding for their TARS scheme in Monmouthshire, which helps people living in temporary accommodation to navigate the system, and move on to stable homes. The scheme supports roughly 200 people.

Part of the work that TARS does is to help their clients manage their money, by minimising their outgoings and by ensuring that they are receiving the benefits that they are entitled to. Previously, the team would have received advice in this area from Citizens Advice on behalf of their clients, but with the number of people requiring support dramatically increasing, it was clear that there was a need to have this knowledge in-house.

Louise identified a training course on Welfare Benefits that would equip the team with knowledge on the different types of benefits available, meaning they could better advise and advocate for clients. Without the resources to fund this, Louise was able to apply to our Training Fund for a grant to allow her team of 16 to attend.

Building Confidence Through Accessible Learning

The Welfare Benefits training took place on zoom over the course of a day. The training being online meant that more staff members were able to attend, and the training could take place sooner. This allowed the knowledge and skills to be integrated into the team’s work practice sooner and more broadly, directly benefitting the people supported by TARS.

“Everyone found it very beneficial. It made them feel more confident in what they were doing, have been able to expand this into their work practice.”

The Impact on their Clients

"Everyone that attended found it really beneficial. It just made them feel more confident in what they were doing. Then that expanded into their work practise when they were supporting individuals to maximise their income."

Louise has had a lot of positive feedback on the training from her team. Some of the benefits of the training include:

  • Increased confidence. Louise noticed that a lot more support plans being made by her team for their clients mentioned benefit checks and supporting people to make sure they’re accessing the benefits they’re entitled to – illustrating that the team have felt more confident in advocating for clients in this way.
  • Increased incomes for the people TARS are supporting. The team were able to successfully use their knowledge to maximise incomes for their clients.
  • Increased understanding of housing benefits forms. The teams increased knowledge on benefits meant they could fill out housing benefits forms much more quickly, reducing waiting times for their clients and therefore reducing arrears.

"Staff found the information that was given to them really useful. They all said they had an idea of what they needed to do but going on the course reaffirmed that they were right, and made them more confident in what they were doing. So everybody gave really positive feedback about it."

"[As a result of the training], I could really see that the team were doing more in relation to benefits and increasing [their clients'] incomes."

The Process

“It was really quick, it was really easy, and it was a really simple process”

Louise found applying for funding through the training fund very easy, and would recommend it to other colleagues.

“When I got the email to say it had been awarded, I was pleasantly surprised as I hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly.”

 

If you have, or your team has, a training need that you are struggling to pay for

APPLY TO OUR TRAINING FUND

and we will do all that we can to help.

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