History

Benefit Options, Advice & Training is led by Stephen Watkins who has over 30 years experience in managing and delivering a range of benefit-related services, latterly with Warwickshire Welfare Rights Advice Service.

He has fulfilled a number of roles:

     - caseworker and appeal representative;

     - telephone/email advice to professionals and direct to the public;

     - devised and delivered a range of training courses;

    - set up and ran a diverse number of take-up campaigns;

   - created and maintained a portfolio of guidance materials for professionals to refer to;

   - published a range of simple leaflets for public use;

   - set up and ran a number of projects using  benefits as a way of targeting 'hard-to-reach' communities, so that  other third sector          agencies can meet their own objectives.