Welfare Benefits Law
Help when your benefits are stopped, reduced or refused
If you are having problems with a benefits issue, you could benefit from the advice of experts. Our Benefits Law team has a wealth of experience in helping people who are having problems with benefits claims. The benefits system can be a nightmare because the rules are complex and confusing. If you have a benefits problem, we can help you to get through the benefits maze.
Please note: We are currently only able to offer this service as part of the Wakefield District Community Legal Advice Service. Please click here to jump to contact details for the Service, and information on what to do if you live outside the Wakefield District.
Help for people whose benefits claims have been refused, or whose benefit has been stopped or reduced.
A large part of our work in the area of Welfare Benefits Law involves helping people whose claims for benefits like Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Attendance Allowance (AA) have been refused.
Our welfare rights advisers have considerable expertise in this area and give specialist advice to claimants of DLA and AA, including the growing number of elderly people who rely on these benefits.
We also give advice to people whose benefit has been stopped or reduced for a variety of reasons, for example because they are thought to have been working or living with someone as husband and wife.
Help with DWP benefits appeals
We understand how important getting the right benefits can be for people on low incomes, or who are coping with physical or mental disability. In cases where benefits have been refused, reduced or stopped, we can help you to appeal against the decision the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has made. People going through the appeals process with the DWP usually have the choice of either a paper hearing (where the a tribunal will make a decision based on paper evidence only) or an oral hearing, where they can attend in person. An oral hearing gives you the best chance of explaining the facts of your case.
Our team may not be able to attend the hearing in every case, though if the case is particularly legally complex we will try to do so. In situations like this, our welfare benefits advisers will present your case and make legal representations on your behalf.
Important: Do you live within the Wakefield District?
Welfare Benefits law is an area of work funded by legal aid. Currently, Switalskisonly holds a contract to provide Welfare Benefits advice as part of the Wakefield District Community Legal Advice Service. This means that we can only provide welfare benefits advice to residents of the Wakefield District.
If you do not live within the Wakefield District, you may be able to get help over the phone, or find a face-to-face provider in your own area by contacting the Community Legal Advice helpline on 0845 345 4 345.
If you live in Wakefield District and would like advice about a benefits problem, contact the team at Wakefield District Community Legal Advice Service at any of the drop-in centres listed below or by telephone:
- 27 King Street, Wakefield WF1 2SR
Monday-Friday 9am-5pm, Tuesdays until 8pm and the first Saturday of each month between 9am and 1pm - 1st Floor, Horsefair House, Horsefair, Pontefract, WF8 1NX
Wednesdays & Fridays 10.00am-1.00pm - Hemsworth Town Hall, 1 Bank Street Hemsworth WF9 4JX
Wednesdays 10.00am-1.00pm - Five Towns Resource and Technology CentreWelbeck Street, Castleford WF10 1DP
Thursdays 10.00am-1.00pm
Telephone: 0844 499 4138 (This line can get busy as the service is in great demand)
