Touchpoint Benefits Advice

This service is temporarily closed to new referrals until 2nd January.

If you need benefits advice in the meantime you can contact:

Barnet Citizens Advice (advice line 0808 250 5708 open Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 4.00pm)

Provides free advice on a range of topics to anyone who lives. works or studies in Barnet. Citizens Advice Barnet are a local charity. https://barnetcab.org.uk/

Boost (0208 359 2442 / boost@barnet.gov.uk) for support and advice.

Provides employment and benefits advice for Barnet residents. Boost are part of The Barnet Group, owned by Barnet Council. https://boostbarnet.org/

About Touchpoint Benefits Advice

Our Benefits Advice service supports disabled people in Barnet to access the benefits they are entitled to.

We can help you find out what benefits your eligible for and work with you to apply for those benefits.

Have a read of the information below to find out more…

Who is this service for?

Touchpoint Benefits Advice Service could be the right service for you if:

You feel yourself to be disabled because of a physical or sensory impairment, mental health issues, deafness, learning disabilities, neurodivergence and/or long-term conditions, and
You live, study or work in the borough of Barnet, and
You are finding it hard to access or understand the benefits you are entitled to.

If you’re not sure what type of support you need, please feel free to get in touch and we’ll be very happy to discuss this with you.

How do we help?

It can be overwhelming and difficult to understand the many different types of benefits, criteria, points systems and payment rates that are designed for disabled people.

We offer FREE practical advice and support to disabled people around all aspects of benefits. The aim of our service is to:

Provide you with information about the benefits system and application process
Help you to understand which benefits you may be able to claim
Work with you to apply for benefits you are entitled to
Complete benefit application forms with you
Applying for Mandatory Reconsiderations

Contact us

If you have any questions at all about the service, or have any issues completing the referral form, please do call us on 0203 475 1305 or e-mail us at benefits@inclusionbarnet.org.uk.

What to expect

Which benefits do we help with?

We can help with the following benefits:

Attendance Allowance (AA)
Benefit calculations and Eligibility Checks
Blue Badge
Carers allowance
Carers credit
Child Benefits
Council Tax exemption (for Severely Mentally Impaired SMI or disabled persons exemptions)
Council Tax reduction
Dial-a-Ride
Disabled persons rail card
Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
Freedom Pass
Free prescriptions
Job seekers allowance
Mandatory Reconsiderations
Pension credit
Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
Taxicard
Universal Credit (UC)

If you need help with another benefit, or if you are not sure which benefit you need, please contact us. We may still be able to help you or find someone who can.

Initial assessment booking

You will be contacted by a member of the team to book in your initial assessment and understand any reasonable adjustments you need. We will send you relevant consent forms, which you must return to us prior to your initial assessment appointment.

If you have any concerns or questions about using our services you can use the assessment booking time to discuss these.

Initial assessment appointment

This is where our Benefits Adviser will get to know you a bit better and understand what your benefits needs are. Together we will agree what support or advice you may need for your benefits.

This is a friendly chat with you on the phone (or alternative) which could take up to one hour. Please bring any relevant current benefits information with you to this appointment. We will also carry out a standard risk assessment, which we is necessary for all people using our services.

Important: Please note, if we have not received your completed consent forms this initial assessment appointment will be unable to go ahead. This could affect your benefit applications if there are deadlines.

Dedicated Benefits Adviser

Once we have completed the initial assessment appointment we will arrange with you a further appointment to carry out the necessary advice and support on a one-to one basis.

Waiting times

We are a small charity with limited resources so our waiting times fluctuate according to demand.

Please feel free to contact us if you would like an update on your application.

What we don’t provide

We are not a medical, clinical or emergency service.

Please see our crisis and urgent support advice page for a list of these services.

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How we work with you

Most of our staff have their own lived experience of disability, so we understand many of the frustrations you may be experiencing. It can be disheartening to have to wait a long time for our services or to find out something hasn’t worked out in your favour.

Inclusion Barnet believes that customers and members of the public have the right to express their views and ask questions about our services and does not view behaviour as unacceptable simply because someone is reasonably forceful or determined in their approach. Unfortunately, on occasion, some customers may choose to behave in a manner towards employees and/or place demands on our services that are unacceptable.

With this in mind, we ask that all of our customers please be respectful and patient with our staff, as they’re trying their best to help you and all our other customers, often with limited resources.

Sadly, sometimes a small number of our customers treat staff in a way that is unacceptable and a makes it difficult to provide a service. We therefore have an ‘unacceptable customer behaviour policy’ which sets out Inclusion Barnet’s approach to the minority of our customers whose behaviour is assessed as being unacceptable. It also sets out the various actions we may take in order to manage any instances of such behaviour. You can download and read our Unacceptable Customer Behaviour Policy here.