We are an independent advice service. Our team has twenty years combined experience of work in the welfare benefit sector.

We are not a charity or voluntary organisation.

Benefit Information Services was formed in 1996. Since then we have

• Completed over 1500 DLA and Attendance Allowance claim forms
• Attended 1100 appeal Tribunals
• Our success rate is 86%

We promise:

• A first class service, effective and efficient service tailored to meet YOUR needs
• Telephone calls handled by staff who really do care about YOU
• Fast response to letters and emails with replies YOU can understand
• Appointments that are not rushed with staff who do want to listen

What we can offer to you

We offer FREE answers to your benefit questions and FREE benefit checks to ensure you are receiving your full entitlement.

We also help with claims for benefit, help if you are turned down for benefit and representation if you need to appeal.

If you ask Benefit Information Services to help with your claim for benefit then we work for you on a no-win no-fee basis. Here is an example of how this works with a new claim for benefit. Remember this is just an example; every claim will be different.

Let’s say you were awarded benefit paid at £45 a week, the claim was submitted on 1st September and a decision made on 27 October. That’s eight weeks money you would be owed, or £360. We ask you to pay us 40% of that £360 or £144. The £144 is not paid out of your pocket; it comes out of the money the DWP pay you. From 28 October you would be £45 a week better off; we have no interest in that, only your arrears or back pay as some people call it. If the 40% happens to be less than £50 then we have a minimum charge of £50 but that doesn’t usually happen. You don’t pay any deposit to us or sign any insurance forms.

Yes you would lose some of your back pay but you would also end up better off each week. Our success rate is 85%!

Surely 60% of something and a weekly payment is better than 100% of nothing?

We are also prepared to work for an hourly rate or for a fixed fee. Please feel free to contact us about this.

You may have heard stories of companies that stall or delay claims to ensure that the customer receives more arrears of benefit resulting in a larger fee for the company. We NEVER stall or delay claims. As an example, the DWP has a clearance target to process a new claim for for DLA within 38 working days of receipt. Once we have submitted a claim on behalf of a customer we contact the DWP to confirm receipt. If the claim is not "cleared" within the DWP target time we complain and continue to press for the claim to be cleared as quickly as possible.

You may feel reluctant to pay for a service that you can get for free from the CAB or welfare rights. CAB and welfare rights offer an excellent service but may need to rely a great deal on volunteers who work for free. Due to increasing demand, lack of volunteers and reductions in funding you may have to wait for an appointment if you contact them.

As one advisor on a well-known website puts it:

• • If all those in need of advice went to a 'free' organisation, they would not all be seen;
  • The ability of some CAB's and other advice agencies to give good, accurate advice information and assistance is on the decrease;
  • It is better to pay and be better off rather than not get help due to the factors above;
  
  

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The Legal Services Commission (LSC) has revealed its ‘procurement plan’ for paying for welfare benefits advice in different areas of the country. The plan will see cuts in funding for welfare benefits advice amounting to 50% in some counties.  In addition, the LSC are giving preference to agencies which provide a service in more than one locality.  This means that smaller local advice agencies will be put under even more severe financial pressure and some may disappear altogether. Much of the LSC funding is now being diverted to telephone based services.  These often employ call centre workers with minimal benefits knowledge who give information based on what is in front of them on a computer screen.

We don’t rely on funding or volunteers and we won’t turn you away!

We aim to ensure you wait no longer than 2 weeks for an appointment. For urgent cases an appointment can be arranged within a few days. Better still we either come to you or talk to you on the ' phone. No need to sit in an office where everyone can see you and guess why you are there! Our advisor will research your medical condition beforehand and will know the most frequently occurring problems resulting from it.

It is also worth bearing in mind that the fees we charge subsidise the FREE advice that we offer through our "benefit answers" and benefit entitlement checks service.

One final thought, if your car breaks down would you expect to pay someone to repair it or would you wait for someone to look at it free of charge. And if you do allow someone to fix it free of charge would you trust their handiwork and what comeback would you have?

The choice is yours.

We’re not interested in numbers. You are not just a statistic to us, when you use our services you become part of our extended family. Whenever you need us we’re just a ‘phone call away.

Remember …

• We work on a no-win, no-fee basis.
• We make you aware of our fees from day one.