Our school has received a solicitor’s letter in relation to an incident involving a staff member. What should we do next?

Claims brought against Community and Comprehensive Schools which are associated with personal injury and third-party property damage are managed by the SCA. For any other claims e.g. employment law, grievance/disciplinary procedures/cases contact the ACCS.

Any correspondence (e.g. Solicitor’s letter, injuries board application, etc.) associated with a personal injury or third-party property damage claim should be forwarded to the General Claims Management Unit of the SCA at stateclaims@ntma.ie, together with any other related material.

The school can acknowledge receipt of correspondence to the solicitor and advise that it has been forwarded to the State Claims Agency who will be managing the matter on behalf of your school. The SCA will be inContact with the solicitor in any event.

There is no requirement to seek legal advice or take any other action other than forwarding the correspondence to the SCA.

What evidence can I provide a third party who has requested evidence of our school’s insurance?

Occasionally, your school may be required to provide confirmation of insurance cover. The State Indemnity Confirmation Statement (known as the Confirmation Statement) can be provided as evidence of cover in lieu of an insurance policy to third parties. State indemnity is not like conventional insurance; it is enshrined in legislation and therefore will not have a policy number or an expiry date. The limit of indemnity is unlimited in amount. The Confirmation Statement also sets out an Indemnity to Principal clause accordingly. It is important to note the process for issuing the Confirmation Statement is as follows:

  • The school must be satisfied that State indemnity applies to the circumstance

  • The Confirmation Statement should only be issued by personnel at an appropriate level within the School typically Principals.

  • The SCA advises that a record be maintained of when and to whom the Confirmation Statement is issued.

A student in our school wishes to undertake work experience in a local hotel as part of Transition year. What do we do and where do we get guidance?

For information in relation to work experience, we would refer you to our “Work Experience Guidance” document which was developed by the State Claims Agency in conjunction with the Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools (ACCS). This is available under the ‘School Management’ section of the ACCS website.

It is recommended that a ‘Work Experience Summary Sheet’ contained in Appendix B is completed for each student’s work experience. This ensures that all relevant information relating to work experience is collected.

Sections A, B and C should be completed by the school, in consultation with the student, and signed off. The student/school contact person should then forward the sheet to the host employer. The host employer completes sections D and E of the ‘Work Experience Summary Sheet’, signs it and returns it to the school contact person directly or via the student. At this stage, the host employer should be provided with a copy of the ‘Host Employers Guidance Leaflet’ (Appendix A) and a copy of the ‘State indemnity Confirmation Statement’.

The host employer should keep a copy for their records. Work experience should not proceed until the form has been returned to the school contact person.

Prior to work experience commencing, the ‘Pre-Work Experience Risk Assessment Checklist’ contained in Appendix C should be completed which assists schools in ensuring all relevant procedures have been implemented. Schools have a duty of care to ensure that the work experience is suitable for the student in question. Based on the details provided in the ‘Work Experience Summary Sheet’, the school must assess if the tasks outlined are suitable for the student and must be satisfied that:

  • The work experience will fulfil the learning needs of the student.

  • The student will not be exposed to foreseeable risks of injury or harm.

  • The students should not partake in any high-risk activities that would require specialist training.

    In advance of the work experience, the school should brief students on:

    • the aims of the work experience

    • his/her responsibilities while on work experience

    • the types of activities he/she is not to partake in

    • the procedures to follow should he/she have any difficulties while on work experience

Each student should be provided with a copy of the completed ‘Work Experience Summary Sheet’.

It is expected that host employers have adequate employer’s liability (not required where self-employed) and public liability insurance in place. The recommended acceptable indemnity limits for employer’s liability cover would normally be €12.7 million and the recommended limit for public liability cover would normally be €6.5 million.

Does State indemnity apply when a student completes work experience in another country?

There are no jurisdictional or territorial limits in respect of students participating in a work experience placement and, as such, work experiences can proceed in Northern Ireland, Great Britain or other European Countries as part of your school arranged work experience programme. However, each student should have their own travel and personal accident insurance cover in place for the country they are visiting.

Can a Student undertake work experience for a family member who has no insurance in place?

State Indemnity does not extend to indemnify the negligent acts/omissions of the family members business and they are therefore required to have insurance to cover such risks, to include persons while on work experience. It is expected that host employers have adequate employer’s liability (not required where self-employed) and public liability in place.

If the family member’s business does not have adequate insurance in place to cover potential losses associated with their negligence, the State Claims Agency advise that this work experience does not proceed.

Can a student complete their work experience over the Easter holidays?

State indemnity does extend to cover students undertaking work experience outside of school hours including school holidays, public holidays, weekends, etc.

Can a staff member volunteer to transport students from the School to an event in their own private vehicle?

Staff members may use their own private vehicles for work purposes in schools. According to Section 23 (Travel and Subsistence) of the Governance Manual for Community & Comprehensive Schools, the teacher is responsible for their own motor insurance, as State indemnity cannot be extended to cover an individual’s negligence although they are using their own private vehicle for work purposes. The teacher in question must contact their motor insurance provider and inform them that they will be driving for work to include the use of their private vehicle for business use and the carriage of passengers (the extent of such use is important - regular business use or one off journey). This may affect their insurance policy arrangements and an extra premium may be charged for this extension.

The Declaration Form as outlined in the Governance Manual for Community & Comprehensive Schools must be completed by the staff member who intends to use their private vehicle for school business purposes.

The School should also develop a simple risk assessment which takes account of the task related risks e.g. child protection issues etc. For risk management controls which should be considered when using private vehicles for work purposes, please refer to “State Indemnity Guidance Document: Use of private vehicles for work” published by the State Claims Agency.