Bumbles Day Care > Our Families > Whistleblowing

Whistleblowing

PRINCIPLE & STATEMENT OF INTENT

Bumbles Day Care is committed to providing a professional and quality service to safeguard children placed in our care. Our dedicated staff team recognise that they are in a relationship of trust with the children in our care and are committed to abiding by Bumbles policies, procedures and guidelines which have been formulated to ensure best practice in child care following the guidelines in:

  • Getting it Right – standards of practice for the protection of children and young people, published by Volunteer Now third edition Aug 2009, updated Feb 2011 (funded by DHSSPS)
  • Our Duty to Care (ODTC) – Principles of Good Practice for the protection of children and young people published by Volunteer Now, fifth edition 2009, updated April 2011 (supported by DHSSPS)

This whistle-blowing policy is intended to cover genuine concerns that fall outside the scope of other procedures and follows the guidelines and principles in the:

  • Department of Health & Social Services NI – Childminding & Day Care for children under age 12 Minimum Standards published July 2012 – which states that each setting should have a whistle blowing policy in place which encourages staff to report any concern they have regarding the practice of their colleagues, volunteers or trainees relating to the care of children.

This policy outlines the responsibility of staff to report concerns about behaviour that they suspect is exploitive or abusive to children volunteers or staff, legitimate deficiency in service delivery, actions which are grossly unethical or illegal or there is a lack of financial probity and those actions which are contrary to Bumbles Day Care Aims & Ethos, Policies and Procedures.

Procedures

Bumbles Day Care promotes and encourage good staff communication and any questions of Bad Practice should be dealt with satisfactorily long before the need for whistle-blowing. Staff should feel that they could raise questions about any area of concern during regular supervision or in staff group meetings so that practices can be revised and modified before they cause harm. Ignoring early warnings could find you being implicated in the bad practice.

The responsibility for whistle-blowing rests with any member of staff who has concerns regarding any unacceptable practice even though blowing the whistle may cause ill feeling and create difficult and problematic situations.

Whistle-blowers are protected under the -The Public Interest Disclosure (NI) Order 1998 – this introduced a policy to provide strong protection from dismissal or other sanction for workers who report wrong-doings that they believe in good faith to be true.

Raising a concern

  • You should voice your concerns, suspicions or uneasiness as soon as you feel you can. The earlier a concern is expressed the easier and sooner it is possible for action to be taken.
  • Try to pinpoint what practice is concerning you and why
  • Are there witnesses to support you?
  • Record exactly
  • A member of staff is not expected to prove the truth of an allegation, but you will need to demonstrate sufficient grounds for the concern.
  • Notify your Co-ordinator, or alternatively a Manager – whichever is the most appropriate in relation to the concern. There is an open door policy if a member of staff needs to notify a Manager.
  • The owner’s contact number is: 07793018775. If out of hours, a member of staff can also email to info@bumblesdaycare.com or patsy@bumblesdaycare.com
  • Make sure you get a satisfactory response and if not contact the next person in line of management.

A Manager – currently in September 2024 is: Seanna Strawberry (Bumbles on the Hill), Lynne Carrigan (Bumbles HQ) and Cassie Murray (Bumbles Park Road), together with the owner, Patsy Maxwell, will decide the strategy for investigating any allegations. This must be initiated within 3 days of receiving the allegation and management will ensure that:

Support is offered to the person making the allegation, especially if the person is:

  • Isolated
  • Fears repercussions
  • All concerns will be treated in confidence and every effort will be made not to reveal the whistle-blower’s identity. At the appropriate time however, the whistle-blower may need to come forward as a witness.
  • The staff member making the allegations will be informed of the outcome of the investigation, taking into consideration the need for confidentiality.

If the staff member disagrees with the outcome of the allegation they may contact the owner and in the event that they feel that Bumbles has not dealt with the concern they can approach the:

Early Years Social Worker
Early Years Team
Everton Complex
585-587 Crumlin Road
BELFAST
BT14 7GB
Tel No. 028 95042811