Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 July 2020
708. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the estimated cost if the State were to provide by way of direct payment to childcare providers the money necessary to fund the sector, such as pay increases to the living wage of €11.90 per hour for current level 5 childcare staff working in the sector. [18226/20]
View answerAs the State is not the employer, my Department does not determine the wages of staff working in early learning and care or school-age childcare settings.
According to the Living Wage Technical Group, the "living wage" in Ireland in 2019 was €12.30 per hour. On that basis, the data below is presented with reference to a wage of €12.30 per hour, rather than €11.90 per hour. Based on figures available to my Department (drawn from the Pobal Annual Early Years Sector Profile 2018/19), of approximately 26,000 practitioners working directly with children, it is estimated that 60% (or 15,600) are paid less than €12.30 per hour. The remaining 40% (or 10,400) are paid more than €12.30 per hour.
On this basis, it can be estimated that the annual cost of raising the wages of all early learning and care and school-age childcare practitioners to at least €12.30 per hour would be approximately €30 million. This figure represents an average increase of 12% in gross pay. The additional cost to employers for this in terms of employer PRSI and holiday pay would be €6m, bringing the total cost to €36m.
My Department does not currently have a breakdown of this cost specifically for raising the wages for practitioners who hold a level 5 award as their highest qualification. It should be noted, however, that a proportion of those working in the sector who have qualifications higher than level 5 (at levels 6, 7 and 8 on the National Framework of Qualifications) also earn less than €12.30 per hour. For example, while data from the 2018/19 Pobal Annual Early Years Sector Profile shows the average wage of practitioners with a level 6 qualification to be €12.63 per hour, the average wage for early years assistants working in non-ECCE rooms who have a Level 6 qualification is €11.18 per hour.
