Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 July 2017
26. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the measures she will take to ensure that parents and children have access to suitable places under the affordable childcare scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31297/17]
View answerParents need to act now – that’s the message which I would encourage Deputies to bring back to their constituencies this weekend. The best way to find out information is for parents to go on the website www.affordablechildcare.ie. The benefits are set out there in a way which is accessible and easy to follow.
Deputies we must get this message out so that the estimated 70,000 children eligible for supports will benefit from September. Can I encourage you when on local radio or in your local newspaper to please draw attention to the website. In addition to the website we have posted out information packs to over 4,000 childcare providers and my officials have been on the road holding special information events – each booked to capacity.
There is understandably a lot of interest from parents in the first instance but also from providers. From September a number of administrative measures will take place. We are enhancing existing targeted childcare supports by as much as 50%. There will be better access to subsidies for providers – with the traditional Community Childcare Scheme being extended to both community and private providers.
In order to encourage involvement in the schemes I have secured an extra €3.5m for providers for non-contact time – this is on top of the €14.5m secured in Budget 2017. As I have outlined the legal and technical work is also continuing to achieve the goal of genuine affordable accessible quality childcare. There are a lot of figures to take in during the limited time today. But the bottom line for families is the benefits available from September. Some families will qualify for as much as €145 per week, per child, in childcare subsidies, totalling approximately €7,500 per child, per year.
Examples of the impact we will have:
- A working family in receipt of Family Income Supplement and with a Medical Card, who currently benefit from a full-time CCS childcare subsidy of €95 per week, will from September benefit from a subsidy of €145 per week. This represents an increase in childcare subsidy of up to €2600 per child, per annum, or, for families who have not received the subsidy before, an annual saving on childcare, per child, of up to €7540.
- A family in receipt of One Parent Family Payment, with a Medical Card, working part-time, who currently benefit from a part-time CCS childcare subsidy of €47.50 per week, will from September benefit from a subsidy of €80 per week. This represents an annual increase of up to €1,690 per child, or for single parents who have not benefitted from this subsidy in the past, a reduction of up to €4,160 per child in their annual childcare costs.
There are many more examples which we are always happy to share.
I hope this information is useful for Deputies when explaining the changes to constituents.
