Tusla feared recruitment freeze and cuts to service due to underfunding

The State child protection agency Tusla said it might have to consider a recruitment freeze and cuts to services supporting at-risk children if it did not secure more State funding, internal records show.

Tusla told the Government it was carrying a significant “structural deficit” in its funding during negotiations for more resources in the run-up to the budget last October. The agency sought an extra €260 million in Budget 2024 from the Department of Children, but only received about €100 million.

In correspondence and budget submissions Tusla warned the department that if sufficient extra funding was not forthcoming it would have to consider a range of cost-cutting measures. The agency said this could include a “recruitment freeze”, resulting in a further reduction in the already stretched number of social workers and other key frontline staff. Any further loss of social work staff would likely lead to the closure of residential group homes for children in State care, Tusla said.

In an August 3rd, 2023, budget submission, Tusla said it was running a deficit of €60 million last year, with the increasing costs of residential placements for children in care making up the bulk of the overspend.

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More than half of the deficit facing Tusla related to spending on special emergency arrangements (SEAs). This is where children in care are accommodated in unregulated placements such as B&Bs, hotels, or rented properties as there is no suitable place available with foster carers or in group care homes run by Tusla or contracted private companies.

Figures show there were 174 children in care in these emergency arrangements in January, which can cost Tusla up to €1 million a year per child.

The budget submission, released to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act, said if it faced a funding shortfall Tusla would have to consider cuts to key services. The agency said this would result in “reduced support to at-risk children” and the likely closure of further residential care homes.

“If the agency cannot be funded for the structural deficit then the agency will be unable to provide services that are required by its legislative framework and will be in breach of legislation,” the submission stated.

The document warned another option on the table would be to reduce aftercare supports to young people leaving care when they turn 18, which could result in the cohort falling into homelessness.

Tusla sought €8 million in extra funding for private companies running group care homes to help address the shortage of appropriate placements for children in care. The submission said there had been an “effective shut down of supply” from private providers “until changes are made to the existing rates that are paid”.

The agency said it had received notice from several companies that they would be shutting some existing residential facilities for children in care “due to the current costs”. There was a “high risk” private providers would pull out of the sector, which is already in crisis, meaning more children would end up in special emergency arrangements.

Tusla also asked for funding to improve internal career progression for social workers, who it said the Health Service Executive (HSE) had been “very aggressive in recruiting” last year. Any “exodus” of Tusla staff to the HSE would have a “profound, unsettling effect” on vulnerable children and families the agency was working with, the submission said.

In a statement, Tusla said it had sought a further “supplementary allocation of €84m at the end of 2023 and was allocated an additional €94m of core funding for 2024″. The agency had “prioritised” frontline services with the additional funding and “have not had to implement a recruitment freeze or cut to services at this time”, a spokeswoman said.

Three days before Budget 2024 was announced department officials said extra funding negotiated for Tusla was in jeopardy due to a failure to provide data on staff numbers and vacancies.

In an October 7th email the department said it had sought the figures from Tusla several weeks beforehand. “Funding for all new elements of Tusla’s budget into 2024 is at risk now because we did not provide that data,” the official said. Internal emails show Tusla provided a detailed breakdown in staffing and vacancies figures the following day.

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