Niamh Smyth
Question:1083. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the status of the affordable childcare scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2867/20]
View answerThursday, 5 March 2020
Questions (1083)
Written answers
The National Childcare Scheme (NCS), previously known as the Affordable Childcare Scheme, provides the first statutory entitlement to financial support for childcare, opened to online applications on 20th November 2019. A paper based application process will be available very shortly. The Scheme aims to:
- improve outcomes for children,
- reduce poverty,
- facilitate labour activation, and,
- tangibly reduce the cost of childcare for tens of thousands of families.
I am delighted with the very high volume of applications received so far. Over 29,700 applications, relating to over 38,800 children, have already been successfully submitted and over 33,600 awards have been communicated to parents. These cover both universal and income based subsidies. Parents must bring this award to their childcare provider and once their provider has registered the details, payments begin to flow.
The Scheme provides the first ever statutory entitlement to financial support for childcare. To date, 3,646 childcare services have contracted to provide the NCS. Over 4,000 providers availed of training in advance of the Scheme’s launch.
"Sponsored" applications are now being processed under the Scheme, with over 100 completed sponsor applications received to date. The Childcare Support Act 2018 makes provision for referrals from sponsor bodies for children in certain disadvantaged or challenging circumstances. Where such a referral is made by a sponsor body, the child will automatically qualify for a subsidy for the number of hours considered appropriate by the sponsor, up to a maximum of 40 hours per week, without their family having to satisfy the scheme’s eligibility, income or enhanced hours requirements.
Arrangements are in place to monitor the success of the National Childcare Scheme in meeting its objectives, and the Scheme has been designed to be flexible and responsive. Section 26 of the Childcare Support Act 2018 provides for a review of the operation of the scheme to commence 12 months after the first payment of subsidies under the scheme. A report of this review will be laid before each House of the Oireachtas. The stated policy intention of section 26 of the legislation was to ensure an early review of the Scheme to identify, in a timely way, any key issues or challenges which need to be addressed rapidly. A longer-term review will also be carried out after three years.
The Scheme also has a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework in place to support both ongoing and periodic assessment of the Scheme’s success in meeting its objectives, including its objectives in supporting labour market activation and female labour market activation. It sets out the measures which policy-makers will use to monitor the Scheme on a continual basis, as well as to evaluate the Scheme at regular intervals, through a system of regular reporting by Pobal to the Department.
Information on the scheme for parents and providers is available at ncs.gov.ie