I would say if an agency told you you need it now then you do. Seems only reasonable as you need those for just about anything related to health these days. Not sure if there's assistant courses here in the UK (anyone know?) but it is now quite a structures course of study in Australia. Maybe you can get some local grant funding if finances are that tight.

I did a search on the web and these guys seem to run various physio assistance courses from time to time http://www.welbeing-cpd.co.uk/

Maybe drop them an email