What our customers say:

"The Council has always invested heavily in providing work related training to its employees. The EPCIS Scheme has helped to provide the Council with a win-win situation. Under the Scheme, employees help subsidise the cost of training in return for a much more tailored solution, that will suit their own personal needs.

The EPCIS scheme helps retain employees by offering tax favourable treatment whilst they remain an employee. It also serves to give the Council a financial saving by reducing the amount of national insurance contributions the Council has to pay in respect of those that take part.

So far this has amounted to in excess of £60,000 that has now been fed back into the Council's coffers."

 "Apart from the overall success, the most surprising aspect for me has been how easy it has been to operate the Scheme. Even though we now have several hundred participants, there is very little to do in the way of administration. As the Scheme provides such an incentive to stay with the Council, we have had few leavers and no absconders, so to date I have never had to spend more than two hours a month managing the Scheme from start to finish."

Damian Kennedy, Payroll Manager London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

 

EPCIS Case study - The London Borough of Tower Hamlets

The London Borough of Tower Hamlets Council employs just over 9,000 staff and manages the affairs of a Borough with more than 94,000 households.

In 2005, Tower Hamlets identified the Home Computing Initiative (HCI) as a method to help fill the professional skills gap of some of their members. However, in March 2006 the Chancellor effectively brought HCI to an end. However, the Council were keen to find an alternative, to what had already been a highly successful programme.

Being part of the London Connects Consortium, the Council turned to their approved technology partner Bull, who in November 2006 proposed an EPCIS scheme. Under the scheme, employees were able to choose from a range of work related training materials and have the use of a computer for three years in order to help complete the training. Once the Council had approved the Scheme, the HR Director worked closely with Bull to gain tax clearance for the Scheme. Approval was granted by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs in November of 2006.

Head of Payroll, Pensions and e-HR at The London Borough of Tower Hamlets Council explains:

"The Council has always invested heavily in providing work related training to its employees. The EPCIS Scheme has helped to provide the Council with a win-win situation. Under the Scheme, employees help subsidise the cost of training in return for a much more tailored solution, that will suit their own personal needs. At the end of the term, the employee is able to purchase the computer for a fraction of its original cost.

The EPCIS scheme helps retain employees by offering tax favourable treatment whilst they remain an employee. It also serves to give the Council a financial saving by reducing the amount of national insurance contributions the Council has to pay in respect of those that take part. So far this has amounted to in excess of £60,000 that has now been fed back into the Council's coffers."

Tower Hamlets is one of only five Host Boroughs for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the only Borough to host the headquarters of the Olympic agencies delivering both the Games and the regeneration legacy. It is a firm aim of the Council to provide every Tower Hamlets resident with an opportunity to have a Games experience, whether participating, volunteering or being a spectator.

 

EPCIS Case study - The London Borough of Greenwich

Greenwich Council employs approximately 10,000 staff and manages the affairs of a Borough with more than 93,000 households.

The assistant Director of E-learning and E-citizenship at Greenwich Council, identified a need to extend the e-learning facilities available, to reach those employees that may, for one reason or another, not be able to attend courses already available at the many learning centres that operate throughout the Borough.

"Our research identified categories of individuals that whilst wishing to avail themselves of the training courses available, found that their personal circumstances were such that they could not attend a training course in their lunch hour or after work. These were typically shift workers, single parents and those that live outside of the Borough."

London Borough of Greenwich then identified that an EPCIS Scheme would allow the Council to effectively "plug-the-gap". Under the Scheme, the Council would supply the training materials and a computer to allow employees' the opportunity to conduct work related training in their own time and at their own pace. The Council asked Chilterns, the Public Sector Accountancy practice to appraise the scheme and help apply for HMRC approval.

"The Council wants to help increase the IT literacy of all staff members. Whilst identifying with the widely published national statistics, that over 90% of new jobs require the basic knowledge of a computer, the Council hopes to ensure that it complies with the Government's Transformational Plan to make as many services as possible available to the Community on-line. In order to do so, it is recognised that there will have to be a high level of IT competency throughout the Council. Good communication is essential and e-mail, together with the Internet are two of the most important ways of keeping in touch with staff and the wider community alike.

 

What our clients say:

70% of Applicants thought EPCIS offers excellent value for money

76% of Applicants felt their IT skills had improved

64% of Applicants would take more training at the end of their course

81% of Applicants felt confident enough to work from Home in future without any problems

90% of Applicants felt EPCIS has had a positive effect on their career

 

“ The EPCIS scheme has made me more confident with computers in general”

 Jane Hall, London Borough of Tower Hamlets

 

“Improving my IT skills has been a long standing development need. The EPCIS scheme has allowed me to do more in my own time, and to manage my working week more flexibly”      
               
Geoff Wellard, London Borough of Croydon

 

“It’s a long time since I have done any training and initially, I approached everything with a little fear and trepidation. However, the word and powerpoint training has really helped me to present my work much more efficiently. Is it possible to buy additional training modules?”

Michael Rimmer, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham

 

“Through setting everything up from scratch it has permitted me to catch up with MS desktop technology skills, knowledge that many staff/consultants that I work with already have. As a lead ICT Consultant that is important as I need to understand the technicalities both at the high level (contractual) and at the screwdriver level (practical).”                       

Mike Fake, London Borough of Croydon