Benefit and welfare reform training courses

Our courses are primarily intended for those who have a limited or no knowledge of benefits and welfare reform. They are aimed at people who belong to a group or organisation who advice on Social Security benefit rights and entitlements or who work with people who rely on the benefit system for their income or part of their income.

Bookings and enquiries

wrs.training@wolverhampton.gov.uk

The courses we provide are as set out below. If you would like to make a booking for yourself and/or a colleague, then simply email us with the name and date of the course(s) you would like/they would like to attend. When doing so please provide:

• the names and email addresses of the people who will be attending the course; and 
• the details of the course you want each person to attend (i.e. the name of the course and the date on which it is due to take place).

Also, when selecting the course you would like to attend PLEASE CHECK to make sure that you are aware of how the course is being delivered - face-to-face (at the Civic Centre) or online (on Microsoft Teams).  

Free and fee-paying places

Attendance on our courses is FREE OF CHARGE to people who work or volunteer for the City of Wolverhampton Council or a voluntary or charitable organisation working with people living in Wolverhampton. If this does not apply, then the fee is:

• £150.00 per place on the one-day Introduction to Benefits course; and
• £95.00 per place on any of our half-day courses. 

These charges are the same irrespective of whether you are attending a face-to-face or online course. The fee is also the same regardless of the type of organisation or group you are from be it a private company, housing association, local authority or not-for-profit body.

If you need to pay for the training, then when making your booking can you include details of any relevant Purchase Order number and details of the person to whom any invoice needs to be sent if that person is not you.

Refreshments / lunch: When attending a face-to-face course you will be able to purchase beverages from the onsite cafeteria situated on the ground floor. If you are attending the Introduction to Benefits full day course, then please note that whilst lunch is not provided there are a number of places nearby where you can grab a bite at lunchtime. 

Cancellations

We expect course participants to let us know in good time if they are unable to attend. This will enable us to offer their place to other people who might wish to attend / who are on our waiting list. Should the course be cancelled for any reason, we would look to let participants know as soon as is practicable.

Please be aware that due to the demand for our courses and the limited number of places available, if a booking is made for a person who then fails to attend without what may be considered in the circumstances to be a reasonable notice period, then if they are fee-paying we reserve the right to nonetheless charge them for their place and if they are non-fee paying, to exclude them (and/or other people from their organisation) from attending any future courses. 

If you are booked on a course but find that you are unable to attend, then please let us know. You can ring us on (01902) 555351 or email us at: wrs.training@wolverhampton.gov.uk.   
 

Spring Training Programme (May 2024 to July 2024)

Course content and suitability

If you would like to find out more about the contents and suitability of a particular course, then please refer to our latest Training Programme or email us. We can arrange for someone to talk to you about what course(s) might best suit.
 

Each course is supported by a detailed set of Information Guide / Fact Sheet training materials covering the themes and topics covered. If you are attending a face-to-face course, then you will get a hard copy set of the course handouts on the day and a PDF copy after the event. If you are attending a course on Microsoft Teams then you will be sent a set of the course materials in PDF format shortly before the course together with the Microsoft Teams link.

When attending, you will also receive a PDF copy of the PowerPoint slideshow supporting the course in question. Moreover, upon the completion and return of a course Feedback Form, participants will get a certificate confirming their attendance on the course.

Feedback forms will be handed out at the end of the course and we would be most grateful if these could be completed and handed back to the trainer at the end of the course / returned by email. This enables us to gauge whether the training course was within people’s expectations and how we might improve our training and people’s overall experience. A course certificate will only be issued upon the return of a completed Feedback Form.

This training will be held at:

City of Wolverhampton Council
Civic Centre
St Peter’s Square
Wolverhampton
WV1 1RT

The Civic Centre is a short walk (10-15 minute) from Wolverhampton train station. Parking is available at the Civic Centre Car Park, which is a multi-storey car park, that can be accessed from Wulfruna Street and is situated next to / underneath the Civic Centre itself. You can park here at the cost of £12.50 for the full day. Alternatively, you can park at Faulkland Street Car Park which, is a short walk (5-10 minute) from the venue. You can park here at the cost of £4.50 for the full day. You will need change for the ‘pay and display’ machine. It does not take credit card payments. There is also no app.

If you are a Blue Badge holder then arrangements can be made for you to park at the Ceremonial Car Park which can be accessed from Wulfruna Street and is situated at the rear of the Civic Centre and next to the Business Reception. Please contact us on (01902) 555351 or email us at wrs@wolverhampton.gov.uk as needed with your details including a contact number, your car make and registration number.  

Upon arrival can you please sign in at the Business Reception which is located towards the rear of the Civic Centre (entrance to the Civic Centre can also be accessed at the rear of the building). We ask that you arrive in good time prior to the course start time where you will be issued with a visitors pass.

We advise that you should allow 15-20 minutes to enable you to sign in at the Business Reception. A member of the Welfare Rights Service will seek to collect you from the Business Reception shortly before the course is due to begin and take you to the training room. If you are running late, then please let us know if possible. Equally, can you let us know if you need to leave early. We ask this because both late arrivals and people departing before the end of the course can be disruptive and distracting.

Importantly, please allow us to point out that places on our courses are often at a premium and that a great deal of time and effort is involved in preparing our courses. Therefore, it is disappointing when people do not attend as planned and fail to let us know in good time, where possible. As you will no doubt be aware, in some instances there are waiting lists for the courses we deliver. People who fail to show on the day are depriving somebody else from a local group or organisation from attending. This seems to be a growing problem which we are not quite sure how to resolve. 

Use of mobile phones: Participants of our face-to-face training sessions are respectfully asked to refrain from sending unnecessary text messages/emails during these sessions. We fully appreciate that you might, for example, need to be ‘on call’. Should that be the case and you find that you need to receive an important phone call (or need to make an important phone call), then we politely ask that you let the trainer know on the day and step outside of the classroom to make/take your calls. We ask this as a matter of courtesy to both the trainer and the other participants.

Use of cameras: If you are taking part in one of our courses on MSTeams then we respectfully ask, if at all possible, that you have your camera turned on during the presentation and any group activities. We ask this as a mater of courtesy to both the tutor and other participants who are attending the course. Having your camera on will enable to tutor to evaluate how the information being presented is received and see that people are fully engaging.

We produce a wide range of Information Guides which provide information on Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, the Work Capability Assessment and key welfare reform measures such as the bedroom tax and the benefit cap. We also produce a wide range of Fact Sheets which provide information on the benefit rights of people in work, older people, young people and disabled children.

The training we provide is delivered by the Specialist Support: Benefits and Information Team (Specialist Support Team) of the City of Wolverhampton Council’s Welfare Rights Service.

In addition to the design and delivery of our training courses its work centres on undertaking high volume appeals work surrounding Personal Independence Payment, Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and the Work Capability Assessment. Members of the team are also responsible to providing a ‘benefits helpline’ information and advice service to groups and organisations local to Wolverhampton and people living in the City.

Our trainers

Andy Poole has been a welfare rights worker and trainer for 40 years. He has worked for and undertaken management roles within Citizens Advice where he was also involved in undertaking research work examining the issue of mental health and benefits. Before joining the Welfare Rights Service Andy worked for Birmingham Tribunal Unit. He has considerable advice work experience particularly in appeals work. His training experience extends to teaching on all aspects of the benefit system, debt, employment law and housing.
 
Greg Voiels is a Law graduate and has been advising people on their benefit rights since 1998 in a variety of settings including Citizens Advice and independent welfare rights organisations. He has specialised in disability and sickness benefits for over 20 years. He has extensive tribunal representation experience. He is an experienced trainer who has provided training on a freelance basis on behalf of Citizens Advice as well as for the Welfare Rights Service.
 
Keely Gabriel has been involved in the advice sector for over 20 years. She started as a volunteer with Citizens Advice. She progressed to a paid advice role within a students’ union, before spending many years as a welfare benefits and debt caseworker/supervisor for Citizens Advice in the Black Country. Before joining the Welfare Rights Service in 2022, Keely ran an independent debt and benefits advice charity and foodbank in the West Midlands. Keely also works on a freelance basis as a session supervisor for a Citizens Advice office based in the North East, as a trainer for the Institute of Money Advisers and as a writer of training materials and resources for Benefits and Work. 
 
Lee Kempson has over 20 years of experience working in the field of benefits advice here in the Black Country. Before joining the City of Wolverhampton Council’s Welfare Rights Service in 2018 he worked for Sandwell MBC’s Welfare Rights Service where he worked in numerous projects including those that focused on the benefit rights of older people and those with mental ill-health. He now specialises in delivering advice and training relating to the benefit rights of people from abroad and high-volume disability benefit appeals work.

The courses from our main training programme can be delivered in-house both face-to-face and on Microsoft Teams. The following provides a price guide:

• Face to Face Courses: £1,245 one-day / £795 half-day
• Online Courses: £985 one-day / £650 half-day

For any face-to-face course you would need to add the cost of expenses (e.g. travel, subsistence and overnight accommodation) to the amount. If you would like something bespoke, then we would need to price separately for this upon application.