Society Matters: Learning & Development Newsletter
Welcome to the latest edition of our monthly newsletter!
Firstly, thank you to all those who attended our free webinar on ‘“We Can’t Help You”: Challenging Homelessness Gatekeeping’.
We’re delighted to say that our next free webinar will take place very soon. This session will focus on 'PIP and Mental Health: 5 Things Everyone Supporting Claimants Needs to Know'.
📅Date: Wednesday, 13th May 2026
🕐Time: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
🎯Title: PIP and Mental Health: 5 Things Everyone Supporting Claimants Needs to Know
The session will cover:
✅Why PIP looks at functional impact rather than diagnosis
✅The barriers people with mental health conditions face when completing PIP forms
✅Why assessments can be particularly difficult for people experiencing anxiety, trauma or distress
✅How difficulties are often underreported or misunderstood during claims
✅Practical ways professionals can better support people through the process
The session will also introduce our in-depth PIP training, which explores the assessment criteria, evidence gathering and case study examples in much greater detail.
We are delighted to say we’re rolling out a new course on ‘Benefits for Older People.’ This full-day course provides a comprehensive introduction to the UK welfare system as it relates to older people. The course explains the eligibility, application process and rates of current welfare benefits that apply to older people including the state pension, Pension Credit, Winter Fuel Payment or Attendance Allowance (as well as many others). The course also covers in detail the extra support available to those who receive Pension Credit (or other benefits) as well as how changes in circumstances like going into hospital or residential care can impact on a person’s benefit entitlement.
What will you learn?
What benefits are available to support older people
What does the application process look like for these benefits?
How can we effectively support older people to make applications for relevant benefits?
What extra support is available when a person is receiving those benefits?
How can changes in circumstances affect a person’s benefit entitlement?
If you’d like to find out more about this course (or any of our others!), get in touch with a member of the team at hello@societymatterscic.com
🎟️ Read more information and join this course with us here.
Motability Scheme: Key Changes to Mileage Allowance and Vehicle Monitoring
Earlier in the month, the government announced changes to the Motability scheme, which enables eligible disabled drivers to lease vehicles to aid in maintaining their independence in exchange for the ‘mobility component’ of their PIP award. The changes include a halving of the mileage allowance from 20,000 miles a year to 10,000 miles (from 100,000 to 50,000 miles per year for wheelchair accessible vehicles) and the introduction of mandatory fitting of black boxes for any drivers named on a Motability lease under 30 to monitor driving safety. The CEO of Motability operations say that this is necessary due to increasing costs following changes to government’s tax policy in relation to the scheme.
⭐Society Matters offers a full-day CPD-accredited course on Personal Independence Paymentwhere we discuss in detail all aspects of applying for PIP as well as the additional support (such as the Motability scheme) a person can be entitled to upon being awarded PIP. You can find more information here.
New Crisis Resilience Fund Launches from April 1st
April 1st sees the introduction of the new ‘Crisis Resilience Fund.’ This is a replacement for the previous Household Support Fund, which in the past faced criticism for offering short-term support to people to help with food, fuel or furniture but was subject to repeated extensions. This made it difficult for local authorities to implement longer-term plans for the fund. The new CRF will operate for 3 years to provide certainty to local authorities and applicants. It also incorporates what were previously known as Discretionary Housing Payments. Applicants seeking support for housing costs now need to apply through their local authority for a ‘Crisis Resilience Fund Housing Payment.’
⭐Society Matters offers a full-day CPD-accredited course on Housing and Homelessness where we explore in-depth strategies and support available to help people who face difficulties in their housing situations, including the new CRF Housing Payments. You can find more information here.
Earlier this month the DWP confirmed they have begun a ‘Carers Allowance Reassessment Exercise’ in relation to carers who now face hardship as a result of earnings-related overpayments.’ DWP Minister Sir Stephen Timms is quoted as saying we accept that, between 2015 and summer 2025, the guidance on whether and how to average earnings did not accurately reflect the statutory position. The Department will, therefore, be reassessing carer’s allowance cases with an earnings-related overpayment in England and Wales between 2015 and summer 2025 where the treatment of fluctuating earnings may have given rise to an incorrect overpayment. If that was the case, then the Department will reduce the outstanding overpayment accordingly, and pay back any debts it should not have pursued in the first place.'
The DWP say as a result, they expect around 25,000 carers to have their debts reduced, cancelled or receive refunds where money has been repaid.
⭐Society Matters offers a half-day CPD-accredited course on ‘Carers and Caring Matters’where we discuss in-depth the benefits available to carers and how earnings and Carers Allowance can be impacted by that crucial £204pw ‘earnings threshold.’ You can find more information here.
Bespoke training designed around your team
At Society Matters, we know that one‑size‑fits‑all training doesn’t always work, especially in roles where people are supporting others through distressing, complex or emotionally demanding situations.
That’s why we offer bespoke training, shaped around the real challenges your team experiences day to day. We work closely with you to understand what’s creating pressure, where confidence dips, and what support would genuinely make a difference. From there, we co‑design practical, meaningful training that works in real life, not just on paper
Earlier this year, we partnered with the Help Through Hardship team at Citizens Advice Gateshead to design and deliver a tailored full‑day course focused on resilience and the mental health impact of emotionally demanding work.
Nicola, Team Leader, shared this feedback following the session:
“We worked together to create a bespoke training course specifically for our team, focusing on the impact that emotionally demanding roles can have on mental health. The session was designed to build awareness and give practical strategies the team could genuinely use day to day. Since the training, I’ve had many positive conversations with advisers who said they found it really helpful. They’ve been able to put the learning into practice and feel more confident and better equipped to handle difficult situations. The level of knowledge and awareness gained has made a real, positive difference to how the team copes and supports one another.”
Alongside our CPD‑accredited courses, we continue to design bespoke resilience and mental health training in collaboration with organisations, because supporting wellbeing at work means recognising the realities people face and equipping them with the right tools to cope and recover.
If you’d like to explore how we could support your team, we’d love to talk.📩 hello@societymatterscic.com
With the news that nearly one million people are missing out on Pension Credit, Society Matters Trainer Gareth Newman unpacks why, despite repeated attempts by government, so many pensioners are not claiming this vital support…
Podcast – This is the North Episode 47: Claire Malcolm MBE
In this episode, Alison is joined by Claire Malcolm MBE, founding Chief Executive of New Writing North, the organisation she built from a small startup in 1996 into a nationally recognised force shaping opportunities for writers across the north of England.
Claire grew up working class in York, a passionate reader placed in low sets for English because she was a bad speller. Nobody in her family had been to university. She ended up doing a fine art degree because the system had already decided English wasn't for her. In 1996, when everyone she knew in Leeds was heading to London, she went to Newcastle instead, and decided to put it on the map.
For the first twenty years, New Writing North was about building bridges to London, helping northern writers access the agents, publishers, and deals concentrated in the capital. It worked. But Claire reached a point where she started asking a different question: we are supplying London with brilliant writers, so where is the investment coming back?
The conversation turns to the reading crisis. Only one in five schools in the North East has a school library. Book ownership among children is lower than the national average. Claire makes the case that books were, for her, "the steps out of the place I was from," and that when you strip away the library, the books in the home, and the teacher who takes you seriously, you close the door to everything that comes after.
Claire has now raised £10.5 million to build a Centre for Writing in Newcastle, backed by the public sector, Northumbria University, and the combined authority. Hachette UK, the second biggest publisher in the country, has opened a Newcastle office with 20 staff and together they have launched an MA in publishing. The Centre is due to open in early 2028.
The episode also covers the working-class voices magazine The Bee, youth and community programmes in Newcastle's West End, regional screenwriting, AI and copyright, and what Claire is reading.
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