Projects & Initiatives
FEDEC undertakes projects and initiatives, many of which involve all relevant or eligible members of the partnership. These have included South East Local Enterprise Partnership and Education Training Foundation bids for skills initiative funding amongst others. Most recently FEDEC has supported a collaborative project with City & Guilds to develop an Apprenticeships End-Point Assessment Hub.
It is also working on other projects including; the University of Portsmouth's Further Forces Programme through which FEDEC organisations seek to recruit ex-services personnel into FE college vacancies; and an initiative with the Essex Employment and Skills Board to recruit young people into FE careers. Both of these projects are fully detailed on our Staff & CPD page.
Essex End-Point Assessment Hub
This project sought to bring together FEDEC partners to create a Hub based resource of apprenticeship assessors to deliver independent end-point assessments across the county. The project was undertake n in conjunction with and supported by City & Guilds. The EPA Hub was developed to help facilitate the growing demand and responsiveness that will be required to service the independent EPA aspect of the new Apprenticeships Standards.
​
All of FEDEC's eligible apprenticeship providing organisations collectively supplied a potential resource or bank of C&G registered assessors, which could be utilised to undertake independent EPAs for other apprenticeship providers at employer or training locations across the county. This was co-ordinated via a Hub Service which was operated as part of Essex Shared Services Ltd (ESSL).
​
The project was undertaken in three phases; project set-up, pilot delivery operation and full operation. The project's progress and effectiveness as a future model for remedying and supporting IEPA activity and capacity, including the possibility of national approval for similar models was concluded and approved by the ESFA and IFATE in summer 2020 and continued operations until November 2020 when unfortunately The Hub became a casualty of the Covid 19 pandemic, unsustainable in challenging times with freezes to End Point Assessments.
However, successful in its PILOT it is now a model that can be revisited in the future and the FEDEC collaboration has paved the way for future hubs across the nation to operate under a similar model to partner with any End Point Assessment Organisation, meeting ESFA Conflict and Collusion regulations.
Essex EPA Hub Contacts:
Administration - email: epahub@essexsharedservices.co.uk
FEDEC is supported by an Operational Director. Communications with FEDEC should be made via the details provided on our Contact page.
​