Cut child abuse risk, agencies urge

Child protection agencies say it is safer to source childcare workers in the North, where better records are kept of people known to have previously harmed children.

A triple checking system spanning two government departments and the Police Service of Northern Ireland makes it far more difficult for child abusers to fall through the cracks in the North, according to the Northern Ireland Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. “The Department of Health operates a pre-employment consultancy service (PECS) and keeps records of people who’ve been sacked for harming children. The Department of Education has a list called List 99, records of teachers not suitable to work with children and the PSNI has the criminal records list. It can be used by statutory and non-statutory childcare agencies. In the South, vetting is only available to the statutory sectors,” said NSPCC policy advisor Colin Reid.