Child Safeguarding Statement Compliance Unit
The promotion of children’s safety and wellbeing is central to Tusla’s aims and objectives across our services. In line with this, from March 11th 2018, all providers of relevant services which are in operation for greater than three months are legally required to have a Child Safeguarding Statement in place.
This represents an entirely new process, as this is the first piece of universal legislation which is applicable across all children’s services. It is important that all providers of children’s services check to see whether or not the service they provide falls within the definition of a “relevant service”. Please see Schedule 1 of the Children First Act 2015 (No. 36 of 2015) to see of the full list of “relevant services”, which can be found here. Services who fall within these definitions, if found to be non-compliant with the above requirement, risk their details being added to a Register of Non-Compliance. This shall be made available publicly online, and in the Child Safeguarding Statement Compliance Unit Office in Estuary House, Limerick on request.
This requirement is set out in the Children First Act 2015 (No. 36 of 2015) which was enacted on December 11th 2017. On the day of enactment, it was communicated to the public that all providers were required to have a Child Safeguarding Statement in place by the 11th March 2018. All services must also nominate a “relevant person” to manage the Child Safeguarding Statement and be the person who communicates with Tusla in relation to the Child Safeguarding Statement.
The lead in period between December '17 and March '18 allowed current providers three months to develop a Child Safeguarding Statement. The time period of three months also allowed members of the public who were uncertain if the service they provided fell within the definition of “relevant services” in Schedule 1 of the2015 Act, and to clarify this. New services shall be allowed a period of 3 months following their commencement to have a Child Safeguarding Statement in place.
The Tusla Child Safeguarding Statement Compliance Unit (CSSCU) is a dedicated Tusla department set up solely to manage the requirement for providers to have a Child Safeguarding Statement in place. Support and guidance documentation is available on the Tusla website to support providers to meet this requirement. Support and guidance can be accessed via the CSSCU Staff also. The unit is also responsible for operating and maintaining the Register of Non-Compliance under section 13 of the Children First Act 2015.
If a person has any doubts as to whether the service they provide is a “relevant service”, they are asked to refer to the Act itself and guidance on the Tusla website to clarify their status. See:
- | Children First Act 2015 |
- | What is a Child Safeguarding Statement |
- | Guidance on Developing a Child Safeguarding Statement |
If a person has any general queries on the Children First Act 2015 they are asked to refer to the general guidance and support documents on Children First on the Tusla Website. If they have further queries not addressed by this guidance they are asked to contact the Children First Information and Advice Officers for your area. Their contact details can be found here.
If a person has any general queries relating to Tusla (and not to the Children First Act 2015) they are asked to refer to the Tusla Website first, and if they have further queries to contact Tusla for general information on info@tusla.ie.
If a person has specific queries on the Children First Act 2015 which are not answered in the guidance and support documents on the Tusla website or in the Act itself, please contact the CSSCU by:
Email (Preferable): | Please send your queries or Child Safeguarding Statement to csscu@tusla.ie |
|---|---|
Telephone: | 061461738 |
Post: | Child Safeguarding Statement Compliance Unit, Child and Family Agency, Estuary House, 2nd Floor, Henry Street, Limerick. |
If you have concerns about a relevant services child safeguarding statement that you wish to bring to our attention please use the form for persons reporting Information of Concern and post or email to the addresses supplied above.
Definitions
A provider is defined under the Children First Act 2015 (No. 36 of 2015) as a person:
(a) who provides a relevant service, and
(b) who, in respect of the provision of such relevant service—
(i) employs (whether under contract of employment or otherwise) one or more
than one other person to undertake any work or activity that constitutes a
relevant service,
(ii) enters into a contract for services with one or more than one other person for
the provision by the person of a relevant service, or
(iii) permits one or more than one other person (whether or not for commercial or
other consideration and whether or not as part of a course of education or
training, including an internship scheme) to undertake any work or activity,
on behalf of the person, that constitutes a relevant service.
A relevant service is defined under the Children First Act 2015 (No. 36 of 2015) as:
Any work or activity specified in Schedule 1 of the Children First Act 2015 (No. 36 of 2015).