First rate: (L to R) Politician Pat McFadden, NUJ training organiser Linda King, project manager Frances Dredge and actor-comedian Lenny Henry © Jess Hurd/reportdigital.co.uk

The FEU won the 'Outstanding Achievement' Award for Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) in the 2010 unionlearn Awards.

Presented by comedian Lenny Henry, a firm supporter of adult learning and recent MA graduate, the award recognised the effort and quality of work that the FEU project team has put in to supporting freelance members' career progression.

"Due to the nature of working freelance, it's often difficult to get career support and relevant information on a whole range of important career-related subjects," said project manager Frances Dredge.

This is where the FEU is helping through the provision of an extensive range of skills development opportunities including short training courses and written IAG through publications such as the FEU handbook and via the web.

"One of the pitfalls of working for yourself is that it can be isolated and to combat this we've put a lot of hard work into improving communication through virtual and face-to-face networking events and workshops," explained project co-ordinator Miranda Gavin. "We've got plenty more in the pipeline this autumn too such as a new programme of one-day business courses and a one-day learning workshop."

Unionlearn's report can be seen online: Lenny hands out prizes to union learning champions,

Hear more about the unionlearn awards on the video clip below:

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Business skills training
for creative freelances