A CWMBRAN charity will be able to increase training and widen its outreach service after it won backing from the Welsh Government.

The Disability Advice Project (DAP) has been awarded £5,500’s worth of funding by Communities 2.0, the Welsh Government’s digital inclusion programme.

It ensures disabled people receive the full benefit of their entitlement to care services and access to the welfare benefits they are entitled to. And it provides independent specialist advice, advocacy and information for disabled people, their families and carers.

It is run by people who all have experience of caring for a disabled person or who are themselves disabled. All donations from clients are reinvested in the project to fund free welfare rights work. Since April 1999, the DAP has represented more than 1,000 people at disability benefit tribunals.

Richard Berry, chairman of DAP, said the support would open “tremendous new opportunities”.

He said: “The funding from Communities 2.0 will mean we can upgrade our hardware and provide a reliable and efficient service to our clients.”

And Communities 2.0’s project director Cathryn Marcus said: “The support will help the project to become sustainable in the future.”

Communities 2.0 is made up of four community groups and is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund.