More than 850 posts vacant at Tusla, including hundreds of social work roles
Care Roles, And 162 Administration Work Social Posts 244 340 Jobs Social The Vacant Among Are Positions,
More than 850 posts are currently vacant in Tusla, including senior positions at national and local level.
Among the vacant posts are 340 social work roles, 244 social care positions, and 162 administration jobs. It comes as the services of Tusla are under growing pressure, with the child and family agency saying the war in Ukraine and “other complex issues facing children and families in Ireland today”, have led to increased demand for services and support.
The vacant positions include a social care leader for Cork; a principal social worker for Waterford and Wexford; a domestic violence and abuse liaison officer for the Midwest, and a national manager for Tusla's education support service (TESS), which dealt with 6,199 children in the 2021/22 school year. There are also rolling recruitment campaigns for social work and social care staff in Leinster.
The agency has confirmed to the that recruitment campaigns are being run internationally to attract employees from abroad to fill the vacancies.
When the agency launched its annual report in July, it revealed a 13% increase in referrals to Tusla in 2022, to 83,000. The agency stated at the time that staff recruitment and retention difficulties being experienced by Tusla are similar to the experiences of “other social service agencies in Europe”.
Tusla interim CEO, Kate Duggan, admitted the agency was at “a crisis point” due to the “increase in demand for services", citing staffing issues among the "unprecedented challenges" facing it.
A spokeswoman for Tusla told the : "We are undertaking extensive recruitment campaigns abroad having successfully managed to secure social work in the category of ‘hard to fill’ skills in the past year, with the cooperation of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. As a result, we hope to attract additional social workers coming to Tusla to fill current vacancies.
"In 2022, Tusla commenced an initiative with Robert Gordon University (Scotland) and is currently sponsoring an initial cohort of staff through a part-time Social Work degree programme. In addition, Tusla commenced an initiative for sponsorship of staff through a Social Care degree programme. In 2022, in collaboration with CORU, Tusla initiated a ‘Return to Practice’ programme for qualified social workers who haven’t practised for a number of years."
She added: “For the past two years, Tusla has also offered employment to all final-year social work students prior to graduation. In 2023, Tusla established an All Employers Forum for the supply of Social Workers.
"Membership includes Tusla, HSE, Probation Services, the Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW), and includes input from Third Level Institutions with a view to increasing the supply of Social Workers. The All Employers Forum is working towards an apprenticeship model for social work, to increase avenues for individuals to enter education and on-site learning.”
While welcoming Tusla’s measures in tackling the staffing crisis, Empowering People in Care (EPIC), says there is a need for a cross-departmental approach by government to address the issue.
Its chief executive, Marissa Ryan, said: “We urge the Government to use the opportunity of Budget 2024 to ensure that Tusla has the investment and political support necessary to attract and retain a range of child protection and welfare specialists to supplement its current social work team and fill gaps in service provision.”