For a number of years Essex County Council (ECC) has provided computers, laptops and Internet access to support young people with their education and with finding high-quality employment, funded by grants from Central Government.
These included:
- Children and young people in care
- Young people leaving care and young carers.
Nationally in England, the scheme was known as Home Access and in Essex was supported by a web portal called MyBase.
As you will be aware, ECC can no longer support these due to the changes in our role from being a provider of services, to being commissioners of services. Therefore, we will no longer be providing any technical support for these projects and we shall be writing to all responsible adults to inform them of the full details of the change.
Home Access Project Support
In July 2011 and with the exception of young people who received laptops via the Leaving & Aftercare Service, ECC will be writing to all known responsible adults of laptops or computers supplied through the ECC Home Access initiatives. This will give important information relating to the transfer of ownership of this equipment from ECC to the responsible adult.
If you received your laptop from the Leaving & Aftercare Service, please contact your local office for a copy of the letter.
To assist you during this transition, the information below is provided:
1. General Technical support can be gained from the supplier of the computer or laptop. The contact numbers for the supplier are published below.
2. General enquiries can be made via the email
postbox@e-ictsupport.org
Home Access Projects General Technical Support
All computers and laptops supplied under the Home Access schemes were supplied by one of the following three companies.
The underside of the computer should enable to identify both the manufacturer and the computer’s serial number.
| Supplier |
Ergo Computing UK Ltd |
| Computer Type |
Ergo Laptop |
| Helpline Number |
01159 144160 Please quote Project Reference “Essex Home Access” |
|
|
| Supplier |
RM Education Plc |
| Computer Type |
RM Laptop |
| Helpline Number |
08451 306354 Please quote ID number 42083 and inform them that the laptop was supplied under the Essex Home Access Initiative. |
|
|
| Supplier |
Stone Computers Ltd |
| Computer Type |
Toshiba Laptop or Stone desktop |
| Helpline Number |
0800 731 1784 or 0844 880 1680 Please quote Project Reference “Essex HATG” |
When contacting the supplier’s helpline, you must have the serial number of the computer and the Windows Administrator password. Both of these were supplied in a section of the pack, given to and signed for by the responsible adult, when the laptop was collected from the ECC Corporate Parenting department.
If you have lost your documentation and need a reminder of the original Windows Administrator password, please do the following:
- For Ergo laptops contact the Ergo helpline
- For Stone laptops contact the Stone helpline
- For RM laptops contact ECC via email postbox@e-ictsupport.org.
If the password we supply does not work, it has been changed by the end-user and ECC is unable to help.
Please note that ECC does not have a technical support helpline, as helpline support was included in the ECC contract with the suppliers.
About MyBase
MyBase was developed in consultation with young people in the care of Essex County Council, who attended school or live in Essex. With their help and ideas, MyBase evolved to become a point of reference for information applicable to their lifestyle and a means of accessing personalised learning resources.
In March 2011, ECC issued notice to all MyBase users via the MyBase website of the changes taking place to the Service.
With regret, MyBase is no longer provided by ECC. Young people and their responsible adult are requested to contact their school for information on how to access their school Learning Platform, as these will provide similar opportunities.