You may know that CETMA have been working in partnership with WeAreGroup for many years now on their Courts Contract. This contract has allowed CETMA, alongside many other forms to support people with making PIP/UC appeals to an Independent Tribunal. While working on this contract, we have had many people enquiring about support with the initial application services, and we’ve had to refer people elsewhere as this was a service we could not offer.
This has now changed, as starting at the end of April. CETMA will be hosting group sessions to support people with certain stages of their PIP/UC sessions. For UC, we will support people with, if they haven’t already creating a Gov.uk account in preparation for viewing their online journal, and going through the initial ‘To-Do List’ answering all questions necessary prior to a person’s first appointment with a work coach. And for PIP, the sessions will cover going through the physical ‘How Your Condition Affects You’ form an applicant receives following making the initial contact to inform the DWP that you wish to apply for PIP.
The first of these sessions will be happening in the CETMA Swansea office, with the UC session taking place on Tuesday, April 28th & the PIP session taking place on Thursday, April 30th. Both sessions will be from 11am – 1pm, as from recent experience this is on average how long it’s taken us to go through these forms/questions with users.
Speaking about these sessions: CETMA’s Digital Inclusion Officer, Elian Williams said:
“We’ve had several people requesting support with their PIP/UC applications over the years. Much like with the appeals, with most of these services moving online/being difficult to understand at first, we fear there’s a notable audience of people who need these benefits who get intimidated by the process and don’t bother applying, through hosting these sessions we hope that these people can come & have the best possible chance of getting the help they need/deserve”
“Currently, these sessions will only be happening in the Swansea Office, but we plan on also hosting sessions from our Llanelli Office & eventually also Kidwelly when we have fully moved into our new premises” Elian added about potential future changes to the delivery of these sessions.
Anyone interested in attending a UC session, will have to bring with them any evidence/information regarding their situations with housing/anyone living with them, Any work/employment they have & details on earnings/savings/investments, Nationality, details on any relevant health conditions & any active training/care duties they have.
And anyone attending the PIP sessions must bring the ‘How your Condition Affects You’ form with them and either bring evidence of/know the details of their Bank Account, contact details for any health workers/doctors, any dates they spent in a hospital/care home, any periods over 4 weeks outside of the UK, any financial/other support received from any EEA countries/Switzerland, and able to describe how their condition affects their ability to carry out any of the assessed categories they cannot manage unaided (e.g. Preparing Food, Communication, Moving Around etc,).
A minimum donation is required to book a space on any of these sessions, and spaces are limited. So if you wish to learn more or book a space on a session, you can contact CETMA Swansea on 01554 556996, email swansea@cetma.org.uk or visit our Office in Grove House (see address on www.cetma.org.uk). Note that a booking will not be officially confirmed until payment is received.