Workforce planning is an essential tool for anticipating possible future developments and maintaining a well-structured workforce of an appropriate size, which is able to meet the changing needs of the public service in a cost-efficient manner. Tusla is currently engaged in developing its Workforce Planning capacity and has prepared an initial medium term analysis of social work resource requirements covering the period 2016 - 2018. No analysis of resource requirement beyond this has yet been conducted.
In that analysis, Tusla identified a requirement for a net increase of 268 social workers to address risk associated with unallocated cases. This process has already begun with additional funding of €6.1m provided in Budget 2016. Additional funding over the period 2017, 2018 and beyond will form part of the overall estimates process in each relevant year.
Regarding unallocated cases, I can assure the Deputy that, as additional social work resources are being put in place, all urgent and emergency child protection cases are dealt with immediately. Cases that are unallocated are closely monitored, supported and managed by the duty social work team under the supervision of the principal social worker. Cases are subject to on-going reviews and where appropriate, the level and nature of support being provided will change depending on the needs of the child.
