Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 November 2016
34. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if the new child care scheme is to assist the most disadvantaged in society; the way it is justified that those on TEC schemes will be worse off with the child care subvention scheme, considering that those parents are the poorest in society; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33544/16]
View answerI am pleased to assure the Deputy that no recipients will be made worse off as a result of the improvements I am introducing. Under the current programmes, including the TEC programme to which the Deputy refers, there are many families with low income-levels who are not currently able to access subsidised childcare because of the requirement to be in receipt of certain state benefits or attending certain training programmes.
The benefits of moving to an income-basis for eligibility under the new scheme include:
- Clarity, with a move away from a complex array of eligibility criteria to a single, clear basis.
- Reduction of welfare traps and increased support for progression into employment and retention in employment.
- Equity, in ensuring that low-income working families are not excluded from benefitting from subsidised childcare.
It is anticipated that the vast majority of people (95%) who avail of the current targeted childcare schemes will benefit from the change to the new Affordable Childcare Scheme. For example, under the most generous of the current TEC programmes, the maximum parental contribution of €25 per week equates to €0.62 per hour. By contrast, under the new scheme, those getting the maximum rate of subsidy might be expected to face a lower average parental contribution of €0.30 per hour. It is estimated that 77% of the current scheme beneficiaries will get the maximum rate of subsidy under the new scheme. Furthermore, 'saver provisions' will mean that nobody will be made worse off in the immediate transition to the new scheme, i.e people will either gain or have their subsidy protected for a transitional period.
In 2017, the number of children benefiting from the new Affordable Childcare scheme is estimated at 79,000. This includes 25,000 children who will benefit from the universal subsidy. An estimated 54,000 children will benefit from the targeted subsidies, including 31,500 children who already receive support under the current targeted schemes and 22,500 new beneficiaries.
