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Service Standards
The Agency's service standards are set out in our Customer Charter. Any complaint about the delivery of an Agency service can be brought to a Director of the Agency.
We will fully investigate the complaint and respond within ten working days. If the person complaining is not satisfied with the response he/she can raise it with the Chief Executive who will reply within ten working days.
If the individual is still not satisfied he/she can refer the matter to the Ombudsman. A copy of the Agency’s Customer Complaints Procedure, which includes guidance on raising a complaint is available from the Agency or can be downloaded here.
No 101 The Paternity, Adoption and Shared Parental Leave (Parental Order Cases) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015
These Regulations come into operation on 15/3/15 and they modify the Paternity and Adoption Leave Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002, the Maternity and Adoption Leave (Curtailment of Statutory Rights to Leave) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 and the Shared Parental Leave Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015.
No 98 The Shared Parental Leave and Paternity and Adoption Leave (Adoptions from Overseas) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015
These come into operation on 5/4/15. The Regulations modify the Maternity and Adoption Leave (Curtailment of Statutory Rights to Leave) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 and the Shared Parental Leave Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 so that each appropriately reflects entitlement to shared parental leave for qualifying individuals adopting from overseas and the different triggers and qualification points which exist in these cases.
No 87 The Paternity and Adoption Leave (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015
The purpose of these Regulations is to amend the Paternity and Adoption Leave Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002 (“the 2002 Regulations”) to take account of the policy changes being brought forward in association with the Work and Families Act (Northern Ireland) 2015.
No 211 The Social Security (Maternity Allowance) (Earnings) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015
These Regulations come into operation on 6/4/15 and they essentially amend the Social Security (Maternity Allowance) (Earnings) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000 in consequence of section 2 of and Schedule 1 to the National Insurance Contributions Act 2015 (c. 5).
No 103 The Statutory Shared Parental Pay (Persons Abroad and Mariners) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015
These Regulations come into operation on 15/3/15 and modify the Statutory Shared Parental Pay (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 to give certain persons abroad, those who work as mariners and those who work on the continental shelf an entitlement to statutory shared parental pay.
No 146 The Shared Parental Leave and Statutory Shared Parental Pay (Consequential Amendments to Subordinate Legislation) Order (Northern Ireland) 2015
This Order makes consequential amendments arising from Part 2 of the Work and Families Act (Northern Ireland) 2015. Part 2 makes provision for new entitlements to shared parental leave and statutory shared parental pay and abolishes additional paternity leave and additional statutory paternity pay.
No 102 The Statutory Shared Parental Pay (Parental Order Cases) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015
These Regulations, as of 15/3/15, modify the Statutory Shared Parental Pay (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 in cases where a person has applied with another person for a parental order under section 54 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008. Under that section a court may make an order providing for a child of a surrogate mother to be treated as the child of the applicants for the order if certain conditions are satisfied.
261 Industrial Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000
These Regulations amend the 1996 Regulations of the same name in relation to the amount of information to be placed by the Secretary in the Register in relation to applications and appeals.
The Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2019
This instrument amends the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) Order (Northern Ireland) 1979 (“the 1979 Order”) to give effect to changes to a criminal record ‘filtering scheme’ that allows some old and minor spent convictions to be ‘filtered, so that they are no longer disclosed and cannot be taken into account in employment decisions in certain circumstances. The 1978 Order makes it possible for certain convictions to become “spent”, which means that after a specified period a person can be treated for certain purposes as if the conviction had never happened and they need not, for example, tell an employer about the conviction when applying for a job.
To ensure that the public is adequately protected, however, certain exceptions to the 1978 Order are set out in the 1979 Order so that, for specified professions and occupations that typically involve a high degree of trust and often involve vulnerable persons, applicants must declare all past convictions when asked. The 1979 Order is amended periodically to ensure that the access to the criminal record disclosure regime keeps pace with changes in public risk; to ensure that disclosure regimes remain consistent across jurisdictions where appropriate; and to maintain the public trust and protection process.
This Order, the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2019 (“the 2019 Order”), stems from a Supreme Court judgment, which ruled that elements of the criminal record ‘filtering scheme’ operated by the Department of Justice were disproportionate. The ‘filtering scheme’ was established in 2014 following a review of the criminal records regime in Northern Ireland that was carried out by Sunita Mason during 2011, which recommended that the Department of Justice should filter old and minor convictions from standard and enhanced criminal record certificates; and to take account of the findings of two court cases concerning the disclosure of criminal record material at that time.
The terms of the scheme are that a conviction can be filtered after a period of 11 years (or 5.5 years for those under 18 at the time of the conviction), so long as the conviction was not for a specified offence as listed in the 1979 Order (e.g. serious violent and sexual offences; or offences of specific relevance for posts concerned with safeguarding children and vulnerable adults; etc.); did not attract a custodial sentence; and if there is no other conviction on the individual’s record.
The Supreme Court found that limiting the filtering scheme to a single offence, with the result that more than one old and minor conviction would be disclosed automatically, was disproportionate. The Department has, therefore, adjusted the terms of the scheme to allow more than one offence to be filtered in order to comply with the judgment.
The 2019 Order gives effect to this change by amending the 1979 Order to remove Article 1A(2)(c), which restricted the terms of the filtering scheme to a single conviction. The Department is satisfied that public protection is maintained, however, as the remaining elements of the filtering scheme will continue to ensure that there is no increased risk to the public as a result of this change.