Protection of Children & Vulnerable Adults

Help! Sheet

The Management Committee is ultimately responsible for ensuring that these obligations are met. By so doing, they will help to protect, not only these vulnerable groups, but also the organisation, its staff and its volunteers.

The obligations placed on organisations are designed to ensure that:

a) they recruit suitable people to care for vulnerable persons; and

b) they operate on the basis of good practice policies and procedures in order to minimise the risk of harm to those in their care.

Working with Children

Guidance is provided below for those groups who provide day care services, those who have staff in regulated positions and issues which impact on all those who work with children and young people.

Provision of day care services

Groups that provide ‘day care services’ (e.g. pre-school playgroups, crèches, after school clubs etc) have legal obligations under The Children (NI) Order 1995.

The Children (NI) Order 1995 obliges all ‘day care service’ providers to register with their local Health and Social Services Trust. They are required to operate according to registration criteria and are regularly inspected.

Note - Organisations and groups who provide ‘supervised activities’ (e.g. youth clubs, uniformed organisations, sports groups, dance clubs etc) are exempt from the requirements of the Children (NI) Order.

Further information:

Fact sheet 2 – The Children (NI) Order 1995
A simple downloadable guide to the Children (NI) Order. (Part of the Our Duty to Care guide to good practice in child protection from the Volunteer Development Agency.)

Local Health and Social Services Trusts
To register as a day care service provider, speak to the Registration and Inspection Unit in your local Health and Social Services Trust. This fact sheet provides contact details.

Employees or volunteers in ‘regulated positions’

A regulated position is one whose normal duties include caring for, training, advising, supervising or being in sole charge of children. It also includes a manager or supervisor of someone in a regulated position.

Groups who have employees or volunteers who are appointed to a ‘regulated position’ have legal obligations under The Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults Order (2003).

The Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults Order (2003) came into force in April 2005. In order to comply with this legislation Management Committees should ensure that they are registered with the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to use the Protection of Children (POC) (NI) Service (previously known as PECS). They should also ensure that procedures are in place to ensure that all staff and volunteers appointed to regulated positions after registration are checked through the POC (NI) Service.

The POC (NI) Service aims to help organisations working with children to check prospective employees and volunteers. It informs you whether or not the applicant is listed on the Disqualification from Working with Children List and provides you with information held by the Criminal Records Office and the Child Care Policy Directorate.

Further information:

POC (NI) A Simple Guide
The Protection of Children (NI) Service explained in an easy to read document (Volunteer Development Agency publication).

Choosing to Protect
Guidelines to help you understand how the new POCVA legislation affects you and how to use the POC (NI) Service.

Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety
Contact the POCVA Team, Child Care Policy Directorate, Tel: 028 9052 2559

Working with children or young people

All voluntary and community groups working with children and young people have obligations under the common law ‘duty of care’.

Essentially this means that organisations must ensure that the standard of care provided meets reasonable expectations, bearing in mind generally accepted good practice standards.

In practice, this places an obligation on the Management Committee of the group or organisation to ensure that they have in place good child protection policies and procedures. They will also be expected to have measures in place to ensure that these are routinely followed, for example through mandatory staff training.

Implementing good practice helps to minimise the risk of harm to children or young people in their care and also helps to protect the organisation, its staff and its volunteers.

Further information:

Help sheet! Common Law Duty of Care
A simple guide to understanding the ‘duty of care’ and how it relates to Management Committee responsibilities.

Getting it Right
Volunteer Development Agency guide to standards of good practice in child protection.

Our Duty to Care
Volunteer Development Agency guide outlining principles of child protection good practice and including practical resources such as factsheets, checklists and sample forms.

Volunteer Development Agency
Support, advice and training in issues relating to child protection.

Working With Vulnerable Adults

Groups and organisations working with vulnerable adults must ensure that they meet their obligations under the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults Order (2003) and under the common law duty of care.

Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults Order (2003)

This legislation defines vulnerable adults as individuals over 18 years who receive:

• Accommodation or personal care in a residential/nursing home
• Personal care in their own home, such as personal hygiene, mobility assistance, administration of medicine
• Prescribed services by private hospital or health services body such as rehabilitation, chiropody etc.

The legislation obliges all groups who are ‘care providers’ (e.g. nursing or residential homes or domiciliary care agencies) to register with the Protection of Vulnerable Adult (NI) Service (POVA (NI)) and ensure that all employees or volunteers in a care position are checked through this service prior to employment.

Further information:

Protection of Vulnerable Adults Information Sheet
A simple guide to the main provisions of the POCVA legislation.

Choosing to Protect
A guide to using the Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA) service.

Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety
Contact the POCVA Team, Child Care Policy Directorate, Tel: 028 9052 2559

Common Law Duty of Care

As for organisations working with children, all voluntary and community groups working with vulnerable adults have obligations under the common law ‘duty of care’.

Essentially this means that organisations must ensure that the standard of care provided meets reasonable expectations, bearing in mind generally accepted good practice standards.

In practice, this places an obligation on the Management Committee of the group or organisation to ensure that they have in place good policies and procedures to ensure that practices within the organisation do not form a threat of harm to a vulnerable person unable to protect themselves.

Further information:

Help sheet! Common Law Duty of Care
A simple guide to understanding the ‘duty of care’ and how it relates to Management Committee responsibilities.