Vetting Overview
The National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 commenced on Friday 29th April 2016, resulting in consequential obligations for the University concerning new and existing staff members.
This Act provides a legislative basis for the mandatory vetting for persons who wish to undertake relevant work or activities (see definition below)* with children or vulnerable adults. This requirement applies to anyone who will have regular access to children and/or vulnerable persons in the course of their employment. It is now a criminal offence for organisations to fail to carry out the necessary vetting of such employees, contractors and volunteers.
Vetting/Foreign Police Certification Policy for Staff
Retrospective Vetting
Section 20 of the Act provides for retrospective vetting and re-vetting of employees. Retrospective vetting of non-vetted existing staff(where required)* will be carried out in accordance with the University’s Vetting/Foreign Policy Certification Policy.
Re-Vetting of Existing Staff
The University reserves the right to request any member of staff/third party who has access during the course of their employment and/or engagement to children and/or vulnerable adults to undergo vetting/police clearance at any time in their employment/engagement but in any event at appropriate intervals (currently every 5 years) or such shorter periods as may be prescribed under the Act or as may be deemed appropriate by the University.
Stages 1, 4 and 5 of Section 4 - The National Vetting Bureau and Overseas Police Clearance Procedures for Applicants will also apply to Re-vetting and Retrospective Vetting. The University shall take such action and/or invoke such internal policies as it considers necessary and appropriate in respect of any persons failure or refusal to engage in the vetting process and/or in respect of any vetting disclosure made.
Vetting of New Staff (where relevant)*
Human Resources are currently Vetting for all new staff, where required that will have access to children and/or vulnerable adults in the course of their employment/engagement in a manner which is not merely incidental to the role of that person. It is now mandatory that all new staff, including research staff, hourly occasional staff and Visitors are vetted (where relevant)*.
If you are aware of any existing staff member or about to recruit a new staff member who is currently or will be engaged in relevant work or activity with a child or vulnerable adult, please contact the University Liaison Person at gardavet@tcd.ie to initiate this vetting process. The Liaison Person will also advise and assess the relevance of the work and determine if vetting will be required.
Vetting of Students
Vetting of students is carried out by Academic Registry (AR).
HR will process Vetting for Students only if they are engaged in paid casual work. If students are required as part of their course to complete placements that require them to be vetted (for example, where they will have unsupervised access to children and vulnerable adults), we request that you please get in touch with AR to complete their vetting.
Vetting Procedure
Please be advised that the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 commenced on Friday 29th April 2016 and as a result we are required to complete mandatory vetting for persons who wish to undertake relevant work or activities with children or vulnerable adults. This requirement applies to anyone who will have regular access to children and/or vulnerable persons in the course of their employment. This includes the vetting of staff in Departments that wish to take on work experience persons under the age of 18 years of age.
If there are any planned programmes coming up then the relevant staff should be vetted and you will need to allow sufficient time to do so in advance of the event to ensure the vetting is complete.
Applications must go through the eVetting system.
Stage 1: The Line Manager of a new or existing employee that requires Garda Vetting must first email Human Resources at gardavet@tcd.ie. Please provide the contact details of the new employee. A brief description of the role and how it meets the criteria of Relevant Work must be provided. Definition of Relevant Work below.
Stage 2: Human Resources will then send the employee that requires Garda Vetting a link via DocuSign with forms and required documents that must be submitted/uploaded electronically by the applicant.
Stage 3: Once these documents are verified for ID purposes, Human Resources will send an invitation to the applicant via the eVetting system to fill out the Garda Vetting application form.
Once the IDs are verified HR will gather the relevant information needed and send an invitation to the applicant via the eVetting system. Once this is completed, the applicant will receive an automated email from the Garda National Vetting Bureau with the link to fill out the Garda Vetting application form.
If you have lived outside of Ireland for a cumulative period of 36 months or more over the age of 18 you will need to provide a foreign police certificate from the country/countries you have lived in.
Information on how to obtain this can be found here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/security/police-cert/index.asp. The website is Canadian but it is the most relevant source of information as it provides details on how to obtain Foreign Police Certificates from all countries around the world.
Please note that all Certificates have to be: current and original document(s); also it has to be written in English.
If there are costs involved you will need to provide original receipts along with an expense claim form and HR will submit this to FSD for reimbursement.
Mandatory Vetting |
All new staff (where relevant) cannot commence employment unless vetted. |
Vetting Form |
|
Additional information required on Vetting Form |
|
Verification of identity |
From now on the identity of the Applicant must be validated by the Relevant Organisation. |
Relevant Work |
Relevant Work or activities must be identified before the NVB application form can be processed. |
Filtering of offences |
Vetting disclosure will be issued in respect of each person who is the subject of a vetting application. The Vetting disclosure will include: |
Re-vetting |
Following receipt of a vetting disclosure in respect of a person shall, after the expiration of such period as may be prescribed by the Minister, make a further application for vetting disclosure in respect of that person. |
Retrospective Vetting |
All applications by 31st December 2017 – where the person has not previously been the subject of an application for vetting disclosure, make an application for vetting disclosure in respect of that person. |
Definitions
*Relevant Work or Activities- Any work or activity which is carried out by a person, a necessary and regular part of which consists mainly of the person having access to, or contact with, children or vulnerable adults.
- Act shall not apply where a person gives assistance on an occasional basis at a school, sports or community event or activity, other than where such assistance includes the coaching, mentoring, counselling, teaching or training of children or vulnerable persons.
Each relevant organisation will have to assess the positions involved in accordance with the Act.
Child/Vulnerable Adult
- A "child" means a person under the age of 18 years.
- A "vulnerable person" means a person, other than a child, who
(a) is suffering from a disorder of the mind, whether as a result of mental illness or dementia,
(b) has an intellectual disability,
(c) is suffering from a physical impairment, whether as a result of injury, illness or age, or
(d) has a physical disability, which is of such a nature or degree as to restrict the capacity of the person to guard himself or herself against harm by another person, or that results in the person requiring assistance with the activities of daily living including dressing, eating, walking, washing and bathing.