Welfare Rights (PIP) Clinic
About the Coventry Independent Advice Service (CIAS)
果冻传媒 Law in the Community (LinC) is pleased to collaborate with (CIAS) to offer 果冻传媒 Law School students the opportunity to volunteer.
CIAS is a small, independent local advice agency, helping people in our local community by providing free and confidential information, advice and support.
They help people to identify and claim benefits, deal with problem debts, access charitable support for life鈥檚 essentials and a range of other things that help make life a little bit easier for people who may be struggling. Their mission is to advance the welfare of Coventry residents, predominantly by providing information, advice and support, thereby reducing inequality and improving quality of life within the city.
About the Coventry Independent Advice Service (CIAS)
果冻传媒 Law in the Community (LinC) is pleased to collaborate with (CIAS) to offer 果冻传媒 Law School students the opportunity to volunteer.
CIAS is a small, independent local advice agency, helping people in our local community by providing free and confidential information, advice and support.
They help people to identify and claim benefits, deal with problem debts, access charitable support for life鈥檚 essentials and a range of other things that help make life a little bit easier for people who may be struggling. Their mission is to advance the welfare of Coventry residents, predominantly by providing information, advice and support, thereby reducing inequality and improving quality of life within the city.
If you have any questions about this opportunity, please email鈥� 果冻传媒LinC@warwick.ac.uk
Welfare Rights (PIP) Clinic Projects
The clinic focuses primarily on Personal Independence Payment (PIP), a benefit intended to help with the extra costs associated with having a disability. The clinic offers help with the application, appeals and reviews, as well as supporting people to access other disability-related entitlements. We recruited eleven students who received intensive training on the PIP application process and spent several weeks shadowing advisors before starting to take their own appointments.
- The clinic is based at Foleshill Community Centre and offers appointments and walk in services every Wednesday.
Further information about the Welfare Rights (PIP) Clinic
鈥淢y experience at the PIP Clinic was an invaluable stepping stone in my career. It taught me lessons that academics alone could not: the importance of communication, patience and equanimity. Supporting members of my community was incredibly fulfilling on a personal level, as I felt that I was making a genuine impact: not only by providing legal advice, but also by building meaningful relationships with clients along the way. ''
''The experience highlighted the importance of making legal advice accessible and reinforced my aspirations to become a solicitor and use my skills to help others. I also discovered a level of perseverance within myself that I did not know I had. Completing applications under significant time pressure, while also supporting and reassuring clients who were in difficult and often distressing situations, required a lot of focus, empathy and multitasking.''
''The training of the advisors was really helpful and useful. I felt like throughout the weeks my skills in filling out the forms and communicating with people really improved as I became less afraid of talking to strangers and could navigate the PIP forms with much more confidence鈥�