Child Poverty Action Group

This popular two-day course is aimed at professionals and volunteers who work with people on low incomes. It aims to help you support your clients to maximise their income and know when to refer on for more advice. The course gives a broad overview of the social security system. It has the latest information about benefit changes if you want to stay up to date.

The course covers:

• Benefits available to different client groups

• Structure of the benefit system

• Basic benefit checks

• How to claim and who to contact

• Dealing with problems

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This half-day course offers practical advice on how to check that a family is getting all they should and how you can help them make claims effectively. It aims to give you an understanding of the benefits system, help you recognise important issues, identify points when a family’s entitlement may change and know when to refer for specialist advice.

This course covers:

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This half-day course is for people working in childcare and early years, who want to know more about the support available for working families and help them to avoid common benefit problems. It concentrates on who can get help with the costs of childcare through the social security system, and how this interacts with other sources of support, including the tax-free childcare scheme. No previous knowledge of benefits is required.

It will help you to:

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This one-day course focuses on child poverty in schools and how to support children and families by reducing costs and maximising incomes. It offers insight from our Cost of the School Day project into common financial barriers for children and young people at school, the impact this has and ways to address them. It will give you an understanding of the benefits system and help you recognise important issues, identify points when a family's entitlement may change and know when to refer for specialist advice.

This half-day course looks at changes to benefits for people starting a family and families with young children, both in and out of work.

Maximising income in the early years is vital for children’s health, education and development. This course aims to give frontline workers a basic awareness to help you to identify problems and refer on where appropriate.

The course covers:

Many more children in Scotland will be living in poverty by 2020.  This half-day course looks at why this is and which families are likely to be most affected. Participants will be encouraged to consider the steps they can take in their own roles to prepare for the predicted increase in child poverty and make a practical difference to families.

The course covers:

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Personal independence payment (PIP) is the disability benefit for people aged 16-65. This course equips you with the knowledge and confidence to help the people you work with make effective claims.

The course covers:

• What is PIP?
• Who can claim
• Helping a client who is thinking about claiming PIP
• Tips and guidance in completing the form
• Supporting clients through the assessment
• Getting the decision – what next

The course is aimed at those with no or limited knowledge of benefits.

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People in all parts of the country are now getting universal credit (UC).  But whether you can claim depends on where you live and personal circumstances. This course aims to equip you with the knowledge to help your service users get the most out of this new benefit and avoid potential pitfalls.

The course covers:

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