Twentieth anniversary portraits: Amanda Tyrrell and Fae Pawley

20 Jun 2024

Fae and Amanda have been with LCL Awards from the very beginning, and they make a great team, managing and running the in-house administration team. When Fae started with Logic Certification, Amanda was working for Logic4training (she’d only been there for 6 months) – she then transferred across to join Fae.

The two work hand in hand to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Amanda explains:

“Keeping the centres happy is our motivation. We like to give them a good experience, and pride ourselves on being approachable and helpful from the start, for instance, we don’t have a switchboard. When anyone rings in, they’ll get straight through to one of our team who will be able to pass them on to the person they need to speak to. It’s unusual for a company the size of ours to operate in this way, but it means we can offer our customers a better, more personal service.

“I manage Fae and five other girls and between us we handle the admin and the marking in-house. The department has grown as the company has expanded over the years and now there are seven of us. 

“We mix tasks around, to keep everyone interested and motivated and we work hard to ensure a fast turn-around with marking and the issuing of certificates. The centres appreciate this and it’s important for the candidates who are looking for work. They don’t want to hang around waiting for proof of their qualifications, so we make sure they don’t have to. 

“I take my management role very seriously. In my last job I had an unsupportive manager and always vowed that I’d treat people better if I ever found myself in a management role. I just like to be fair.

“I feel valued here and know I have the support of the Directors; in fact, they’ve been quite fatherly over the years! I’m grateful to Kevin and Mark for believing me all those years ago – from giving me a job in the first place and then promoting me to this role. 

“Fae and I feel engaged with what we’re doing and have been involved in shaping some of the procedures we use.  We’re working towards switching over to electronic systems for marking and record-keeping that will streamline processes even more. COVID was the push to move more of our work in this direction and we now have a completely automated system to raise invoices.

“These advances have freed up my time a bit. I’m now getting more involved in working with Helen Knowles, External Verifier and Technical Specialist, in approving new centres. Most of our business comes from centre-to-centre recommendations - they like the fact that we’re personable. Some of the other Awarding Bodies aren’t that way. 

“Our annual Forum is a great event where staff from here and staff from our centres get to meet fact-to-face. I like that. It’s always good to be able to put a face to a name – we’re like a big family.  This is a great place to work, I like the people and feel comfortable here. Fae is my best friend!”

Fae Pawley, Senior Administrator feels the same way and says:

“I’ve been here forever and can’t imaging working anywhere else!  Basically, I’m Amanda’s right-hand woman. When she had her son I stepped in to cover her maternity leave - we’re very close. I oversee the admin team, train up new members of staff and help set up new centres with their Assessors. I’ve been here nineteen years and it’s honestly flown by.

“Kevin and Mark have been like family to me. I grew up in Northolt and they took me on straight from school. I now have two children of my own who go to school up the road. It’s always been convenient, but more than that, I feel very at home here. 

“I was on maternity leave during COVID. It was a horrible time, but I did some reviewing work at home to support Amanda and when I had my baby, the KIT (Keep in Touch) days – when I could come into the office and catch up with everyone - were a lifeline.

“We’ve seen people come and go, but basically, we’ve got a strong core team here and it’s been lovely to see how the business has grown over the years. We establish great relationships with our centres, quite a few of whom have been with us from the beginning. It’s satisfying to be part of it, working with Amanda and the other girls, to support LCL Awards in their twentieth anniversary year – and beyond!”