Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 June 2016
105. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he is aware that special needs assistants in County Meath are losing contracted hours and jobs without any prior warning and with the information being gathered from the National Council for Special Education website (details supplied). [18966/16]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), for allocating Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools, to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support.
The Deputy will be aware that on 14th June, 2016, I announced that 860 additional SNAs will be available for allocation to schools from September 2016.
12,900 SNA posts will now be available at a total gross annual cost of €425 million. This is more SNAs than we have ever had previously and will ensure that all children who qualify for SNA support can continue to receive access to such support.
In total, the number of SNAs available has increased by almost 22% since 2011, at which point 10,575 posts were available.
The criteria by which SNA support is allocated to schools is set out in my Department's Circular, DES 30/2014, which states that a key feature of the NCSE allocation process is to provide an annual allocation of SNA support to eligible schools.
The NCSE issues notification to schools each year requesting they submit applications for SNA support to the NCSE for the coming school year. Having considered all of the applications received, the NCSE advises schools of their SNA allocation quantum for the coming school year, taking into account the number of valid applications received and the assessed care needs of the children concerned.
This year, the NCSE asked all schools to submit applications for SNA support by 29th February, 2016.
The NCSE advised all schools of their allocations for SNA support for the 2016/17 school year, on 14th June, 2016, based on the number of valid applications received. The NCSE also published details of the allocations for SNA support on their website www.ncse.ie.
In making applications for SNA support for the coming school year, schools will have been engaging with their local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) in relation to these applications. Where an adjustment or reduction in a schools SNA support is likely to take place, a SENO will normally indicate this to a school in advance. However, the formal notification to schools cannot be made until the allocation process is finalised for all schools.
The provision of allocations in June ensures that schools have sufficient time to plan for the provision of supports in advance of September 2016. It also gives schools certainty as to the resources which will be available to them for the coming school year.
Whereas the NCSE will continue to consider applications throughout the school year in cases where schools have enrolled new pupils with care needs, where new assessments are received, or in cases of emergencies, the main allocation of SNA support is now made to schools on an annual allocation basis and most schools will by now have received their SNA allocations for September 2016.
It is important to note that the level of SNA support allocated to all schools can change from year to year, as students with care needs leave the school, as new students with care needs enrol, or as students develop more independent living skills as they get older and their care needs diminish over time. It is therefore appropriate that SNA allocations be reduced in schools which have declining numbers of pupils requiring SNA support, so that they can be reallocated to schools which have increased requirements.
Where there has been a reduction in SNA support in a school, supplementary assignment arrangements are in place for SNAs, details of which are set out in Departmental Circular 0041/2015.
Once an SNA with a minimum of one year's service (Service in a substitute capacity i.e. covering for maternity leave, sick leave, career breaks, job-sharing etc. does not count) is notified by his/her employer that s/he is to be made redundant then s/he shall be deemed to be a member of a supplementary assignment panel for SNAs.
The operation of this panel is described and outlined in Circular 0041/2015 and it is designed to be as flexible as possible which enables all eligible SNAs, who have the requisite Panel Form 1 completed by their former employer, to apply for any SNA position that is advertised by a school or an ETB with no sectoral, diocesan or geographical limitations imposed.
Every eligible SNA will remain on the panel for two years with a view to getting further employment. If they are not successful over that period of time in obtaining a further SNA position then they will be eligible for a Redundancy payment. Furthermore, an SNA may opt out of this supplementary assignment panel at any point in time triggering the processing of his/her redundancy payment in line with the terms set out in the SNA redundancy scheme (DES Circular 58/06) or any revision of same that is applicable at that time.
