The Fashion Technology Academy and its Leicester campus, the Fashion Hub, recently received an external moderation from the Skills and Education Group (SEG), specifically on Level 1 Award in Workers Rights and Labour Exploitation course.
The FEL and FTA team are pleased to announce that the moderation was a success and the final report can be found here: FINAL_ME3-ME4R_MV-27286_Fashion_Enter_WorkersRights_October2024
Divya Kamath, Educational Manager at the Fashion Hub Leicester said: “It was great honour to deliver this course and support candidates in preparation for work and to raise their awareness of the basic employment rights provided by UK law. We have delivered this course for 190 plus individuals in last 3 years.This was delivered in different factories and at the academy.
“55% of our learners are migrants from different countries that have come to the UK to work and become permanent residents. They found that this course helped them to understand their rights and the different types of exploitation, how to report it, whom to contact, along with the organisations that can support them.
“Most of the learners had no idea about their rights and the information provided was new to them. This included: the importance of reading payslips, identifying bogus and genuine job adverts, the different types of job contracts and job status, all of which each cohort found fascinating. Most of them didn’t know about local organisations, such as FABL, that specifically supports garment workers with any issues.
“Each cohort was amazing and during the interactive sessions many individuals took part in group discussions to share their experiences. Although English wasn’t the first language for most of our learners the team ensured each individual was able to fully understand each unit within the workbook.
“I would recommend that this course should be mandatory for anyone starting their employment journey.”
FEL Founder and CEO Jenny Holloway added: “We have been at the very forefront of compliance in our factory and in the Fashion Technology Academy for the last 18-years. When this new award was being developed our Fashion Technology Academy was selected by SEG to trial the award and feedback. We consequently improved the course by stating that more information was required on referrals and ensuring that the learning provided was deeply embedded with the students.
“When Leicester was adversely affected with allegations of workers rights being violated we were the first to work with factories to support them on their journey to ensure they were compliant to the Modern Slavery Act.
“Today we are delighted to confirm that we have now delivered almost 200 qualifications to Leicester based workers on their rights in employment and how to spot abusive labour exploitation.”
Feedback on this course from recent learners included: “Divya presented the course really well – I have learnt a lot and gained a lot of knowledge regarding the types of exploitation, how to spot it, and how to report it.”
“The FTA / Fashion Hub is a very good platform to learn about dress making, blocks and patterns as well as workers rights and labour exploitation. 10 out of 10.”
Please contact divya@fashion-enter.com if you require further information on Workers Rights or any other courses / services provided at Leicester’s Fashion Hub.
Fashion Hub, Phoenix House, 1st Floor, 1 King Street, Leicester, LE1.