Devon Welfare Rights Unit (DWRU) welcomes you to our website. Here you can find details of the services we provide as well as news of national and local welfare rights developments. There are also links to other useful websites and an interactive Signposts Guide (see main menu) to help you identify entitlement to benefits and tax credits and find local organisations that may be able to help further.

DWRU is a second tier welfare rights service.  This means that we provide support services to organisations rather than directly to members of the public.

If you need information, advice or assistance about your own entitlement to benefits or tax credits, you should contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau.  For more information, visit www.citizensadvice.co.uk  or you can use our Signposts Guide (see main menu) as a starting point.

DWRU was established in 1989 by Citizens Advice with funding from Devon County Council (DCC) to provide support services to Devon organisations whose work involves advising people about entitlement to benefits.  DCC remains our primary funder, but in recent years we have obtained partnership funding from local Councils in Devon and from the South West Peninsula Strategic Health Authority. 

Our main services are our consultancy and training services (see Main Menu and Read more below). We are, however, also involved in developing welfare rights services across Devon.  Much of this work is led by the Access to Benefits Implementation Group which is part of the Devon Strategic Partnership. In addition, we are members of the Joint Finance and Benefits Team and we manage the process by which people receiving domiciliary and day care services from DCC are provided with financial assessments and 'benefits health checks'.

DWRU's aims are:

• To improve the availibilty and quality of welfare rights advice and social policy work in Devon, by delivering training, consultancy and support to organisations providing advice to the public
• To identify and act upon social security issues which have implications for social policy

We are also committed to the aims of Citizens Advice:

• To ensure that individuals do not suffer through lack of knowledge of their rights and responsibilities or of the service available to them or through an inability to express their needs effectively
• To exercise a responsible influence on the development of social policies and services, both locally and nationally

Consultancy

DWRU staff can assist advisers by identifying benefits or tax credits to which a person may be entitled and by providing assistance with challenging decisions. If you are dealing with a benefits or tax credits enquiry and you are having difficulty finding a way forward or you just need to talk through the case with someone, please contact us.

Please note that this service is not available directly to the public.

Training

DWRU provides a County-wide training programme with the aim of developing knowledge and skills  essential to effective welfare rights advice.  We can also provide 'in-house' courses on request tailored to the particular requirements of your organisation.  

Training is available to staff in organisations whose work involves contact with  people who are claiming or might be entitled to benenfits or tax credits.

See Main Menu for further details of these services.