Tusla seeks review of disciplinary, grievance policies as part of reform plan

The child and family agency Tusla is seeking staff to co-operate with a full review of its disciplinary and grievance policies as part of new reform plans to be introduced in parallel with the public service pay agreement.

Tusla management also wants to end the common recruitment pool with the health service for clerical and administrative positions.

The new reform plan also calls for an executive management team to be set up in the organisation as well as the establishment of six regional service areas .

The Tusla plan also seeks to introduce reforms of its IT systems. This would include the establishment of “a new unit to enhance the protection of data that Tusla holds in line with internal best practice standards in information security”.

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Tusla has been significantly affected by the cyber attack last week as it shared some of the Health Service Executive’s IT systems.

The new reform plan also wants to see co-operation “with further development of multi-disciplinary teams with internal and external stakeholders to ensure enhanced service integration”.

It says “parties will engage on a specific reassignment and redeployment policy scheme to meet critical demands as they arise”.

It also says there should be co-operation with remote and blended working arrangements in line with Government policy and determined by service needs.

The plan calls for talks to to be started before June 30th on ending the operation of common recruitment pool in health service in relation to grade III to grade VII clerical and administrative staff.

The Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath told the Oireachtas Committee on Finance last week that a reform agenda was part of the overall new public service agreement.

He said each sector would produce and publish reform plans “that will demonstrate delivery each year and payment of a 1 per cent sectoral fund will be conditional on the delivery of actual reforms”.

Details of the first of these reform parts - relating to the Civil Service - were published in The Irish Times on Monday.

As part of these reforms the Government wants to introduce greater flexibility in working arrangements, to increase opening hours for offices dealing with the public and to end the automatic right for staff to have single-occupancy offices.

The Tusla plan calls for “co-operation with any changes to accommodation requirements that are required to ensure more efficient use of office space”.