Darren McCafferty TECH IRRV

Team Leader BAIC - Assessments

I worked within Housing Benefits many years ago before moving into Social Care financial assessments and provision of benefits advice. However, I decided to complete the IRRV to improve my benefits knowledge, gain a professional qualification and increase my employment opportunities in the future. 

I chose IRRV distance learning as it suited my work and home life, but most importantly it enabled me to learn at my own pace.  

The website and information available to distance learners is good and I found the course notes were clear, with each module incorporating practice questions to test my knowledge as I progressed through them. In addition, I was able to contact tutors to ask questions, receiving helpful and timely responses each time. Initially the quantity of information appeared a little daunting, but I concentrated on the key areas and used information from tutors and past exams to create my own summarised notes, recordings of module content and lists of legislation to listen to whether at home or walking around in preparation for my exams. 

The webinars were helpful, and I believe the live sessions and pre-examination sessions shouldn’t be missed. They gave me greater understanding of my course notes plus a chance to interact with tutors and other students. Most importantly these sessions gave me understanding of how best to answer questions and what is expected. I spent a lot of time practicing past questions and exams from the website, each time using feedback from tutors and my experience to improve my responses, timing, and technique. This helped me on exam day as I felt more prepared which I needed as the exam and time limit is challenging.    

The course has helped me to improve my technical knowledge for use in my current role providing benefits advice, as well as increasing my opportunities to step into Housing Benefits or Revenue work to progress my career in the future.  

I would recommend the IRRV course to others, like any professional qualification it requires hard work, focus and determination. Distance learning was ideal for me, helping balance learning with personal circumstances. However, the big challenge of distance learning can be motivation and I feel it's important to plan, set yourself goals and interact with tutors whenever possible to help you succeed