Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 32 and 554 together.

The well-being of all staff, including social care workers, is of great concern to me and to their employing organisations. I also would like to note that Tusla had a national social work turnover rate of 8.4% in the first few months of the year, with some areas exceeding this. The national figure, however, compares favourably with other jurisdictions, such as England, where the 2016 turnover rate was approximately 15%. Tusla has a health and well-being and employee assistance programme department as part of its human resources since January 2017. Tusla also has a critical incident stress management programme in place. Training and supports are provided on an ongoing basis to all staff. It appears that Tusla’s efforts are paying dividends. The latest absenteeism rate for April 2017 was 6.38% for social care workers.

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That shows a positive trend when compared to April 2016 when the absenteeism rate was 7.71%. Similarly, absenteeism at Oberstown Children Detention Campus has followed a downward trend in response to management’s support of staff. It includes the availability of the employee assistance programme, an organisational psychologist and the introduction of a volunteer peer support workers programme accredited by the Carlow Institute of Technology.

As the Deputy is aware, Tusla has been allocated Exchequer funding of €713 million in 2017. That represents an increase of €37 million on its funding in 2016 and will allow Tusla to proceed with an ambitious ongoing programme of service reform and transformation. The programme is under way, with a particular focus on governance, risk management, health and safety, quality assurance and service monitoring to support the delivery of the best front-line services.

Tusla continues to evaluate management and the staff skills mix with a view to enhancing services. It includes reviewing the roles of family support workers, social care workers in the community and administrative structures to support the delivery of a more efficient and cost-effective set of services. These are the measures I believe address the concerns raised in the Deputy's question.

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