ELC & SAC Regulations and Inspections

Early Years' Services Regulations 2016 and School Age Regulations 2018

The Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years’ Services) Regulations 2016

It is the duty of every person carrying on a preschool service to take all reasonable measures to safeguard the Health, Safety and Welfare of the children attending the service and to comply with the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016 and the Child Care Regulations (The Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services)(Amendments) Regulations 2016.

Tusla Child and Family Agency has a statutory responsibility to assess levels of compliance with the Regulations. The Child and Family Agency will work with service providers in partnership to promote a culture of compliance with the Regulations.

For more information on the Early Years Inspectorate see:

Overview of Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016

The revised Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016 was launched on the 30^th of June 2016, and has been introduced on a phased basis during 2016 and 2017.The regulations consist of nine key areas and seven schedules (which consist of application forms and additional information).

Below, we have highlighted some of the key features of the new regulations, based on the most common queries we have received from providers over the past few months.

Garda Vetting

All employees, unpaid staff and contractors (e.g. Gymboree, Stretch and Grow etc.) must be vetted before having access to children.
Police vetting (from the country or countries) is also required for those who have lived outside of Ireland for a consecutive 6 month period.
Services should ensure that a policy is in place on how to respond to vetting disclosures.
Vetting disclosures must be kept on file for 5 years from an employee’s start date

Qualifications:

Each employee working directly with children must hold a minimum qualification of a major award in Early Childhood Care and Education at Level 5 on the National Qualifications Framework by the 31^st of December 2016.
This does not apply to those who have signed a Grandfathering Declaration (on or before the 30^thof June 2016), or those in possession of an exemption letter from the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs.

Policies and Procedures

Schedule 5 of the Regulations outlines 21 specific policies, procedures and statements which must be included in a services Policies and Procedures document. These are

Statement of purpose and function
Healthy eating
Complaints
Outdoor play
Administration of medication
Overnight services (if applicable)
Infection control
Staff absences
Managing behaviour
Internet, photographic and recording devices use
Safe sleep

Recruitment
Fire safety
Risk management
Inclusion
Settling in
Outings (if applicable)
Staff training
Accidents and incidents
Supervision
Authorisation to collect children

Policies need to be reviewed at intervals of not more than one year, and records of each review need to be kept for 3 years after a review is carried out.

For more information please see Tusla’s Quality and Regulatory Framework

Information and Records

The following records must be stored for 2 years from the date a child last attends a service:

Children’s attendance records
Records of administered medicines
Accident and injury reports
Staff rosters

For more information please see Tusla’s Quality and Regulatory Framework

The Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years’ Services) (Registration of School Age Services) (Regulations 2018 School Age Services) Regulations

The registration of School Age Childcare services was introduced on the 2nd January 2019 with the publication of the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) (Registration of School Age Services) Regulations 2018. These regulations set out the minimum requirements that must be adhered to by the service provider in order to register as a School-Age Childcare service. From the 18th February 2019, all School Age Childcare service providers are required to register their school age service with Tusla by completing the online registration process in order to comply with the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) (Registration of School Age Services) Regulations 2018.

In September 2020, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’ Gorman, T.D. launched the National Quality Guidelines for School-Age Childcare Services. The National Quality Guidelines describe the features of good quality practice in childcare services for school-age children, including both after-school and holiday childcare services. These National Quality Guidelines will assist, guide and inspire school-age childcare services to reach beyond the minimum standards set out in regulations. Click below link to view this publication:

National Quality Guidelines for School Age Childcare Services Guidelines, Components and Elements (September 2020)

Visit Tusla’s website for more information on School Age Registration.

Useful Resources:

Childcare Act 1991 Early Years Services Regulations 2016

Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) (Amendment) Regulations 2016

Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services)(Registration of School Age Services) Regulations 2018

Questions asked to the Tusla Early Years Inspectorate team from the Early Years Sector

Accessing published inspection reports

More information from Tusla including supporting documentation, guidelines for policies and procedures, Inspection Toolkit

Early Years Inspector Contact Details

First 5 Guidance during COVID-19; for up to date guidance for service providers and parents

First 5 Professional Development for Practitioners

Early Years Education Focused Inspection (EYEI)

Early-Years Education-focused Inspections (EYEI) are carried out in early-years services participating in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme – a programme which provides a period of free early childhood care and education for children before they start school.

To Compliance and Beyond

DCCC’s publication To Compliance and Beyond is a useful guide which provides information to support you in achieving compliance in your general practice, in terms of regulations, health and safety etc.

Please note: Compliance approach during COVID-19 pandemic

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact the country, the compliance process has been temporarily revised to take account of the current public health situation and guidance available. As compliance activity recommences, the safety of children and ELC/SAC/Pobal staff in settings remains paramount.

Therefore, the following approach will apply to compliance activity until further notice:

On- site compliance visits to services will be postponed temporarily (However, Pobal reserve the right to conduct an on-site visit at its discretion, but in keeping with public health guidelines).
Compliance desk based checks will be undertaken by Pobal compliance staff to verify the accuracy of registrations on PIP and the Hive.
For each service, a sample of PIP Portal or the Hive Registration IDs will be selected for review.
Copies of original service attendance records will be reviewed as a priority.

For more information see the Pobal Compliance Visits section.

Click the image to view the publication:

If you would like to order hard copies of this document for your service, email info@dccc.ie