Lavinia
Lavinia's first language is not English, and she lacked the confidence required to complete the necessary online forms that would enable her to gain the benefits she and her newborn baby were entitled to.
In October, Lavinia came to us for help to apply for Maternity Allowance as she was stopping her self-employed work. She was not confident with her IT skills to complete online forms by herself. A health professional had wrongly told her she couldn’t get this without affecting her other entitlements. After having her baby in January 2021, she came back to us for advice about applying for Child Benefit and Scottish Child Payments. We were able to grant her Maternity Allowance and provide accurate and up-to-date advice and information regarding further benefits.
I find it a struggle to fill in forms or use a computer, but each time I asked for help, my caseworker gave me information and told me my rights.