Child Protection
Guidance
DHSSPS guidance to the Protection of Children (NI) Service [POC (NI)]
is contained in
Advice
can also be obtained from the Volunteer Development Agency
who provide POCVA awareness training.
Guidance to the Protection of Vulnerable Adults (NI) Service [POVA (NI)]
is contained in
- Choosing to Protect (Vulnerable Adults) (MS Word 295 KB)
- Chosing to Protect (Vulnerable Adults) (PDF 132 KB)
The
DHSSPS has also published Child Protection guidance: Co-Operating to Safeguard Children
Access the Area Child Protection Committees' Regional
Policy and Procedures Guide (PDF 1.4 MB) and the short guide to the procedures (PDF
418 KB).
Pre-employment Checking
Please note that from the 1 April 2008 responsibility for pre-employment
checking will pass to the new disclosure body Access NI. In order to facilitate this transfer the POCVA
checking service provided by DHSSPS ceases from Friday 14/03/08. Any POCVA forms received after this
date will be returned unprocessed. Any organisation wishing to carry out pre-employment checks after
this date must first register with Access NI.
Details on how to register with, and use the new disclosure service
can be found on Access NI's website
Please note that Access NI will not accept POCVA forms and existing
registration as a POCVA user will not transfer across to Access NI.

