Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 March 2021
601. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will make childcare providers who are in receipt of national childcare scheme eligible for the Covid-19 standard operating payment in order to waive and refund fees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11759/21]
View answerThe Covid-19 Operating Support Payment (COSP) is intended to support services that are very reliant on parental fees to remain sustainable during the period of high level restrictions, while meeting the condition of not charging fees for families whose children are not attending the service. The payment seeks to enable services to support parents by not charging fees for children who are not attending, regardless of whether non-attendance is because their parents are not essential workers or because their parents have chosen not to use ELC and SAC services at this time.
A childcare provider is eligible for the COSP if they meet all of the following criteria.
Criteria
- The service must be Tusla-registered.
- The service must have at least one child registered on a DCEDIY funding scheme (including the National Childcare Scheme (NCS)).
- The service must be reliant on parental fees for sustainability. Community services that currently receive significant State funding (other than EWSS) from non-DCEDIY sources (e.g. HSE, Tusla) for the childcare element of their organisation (used to support service delivery between 8 March and 28 March) are excluded from the COSP.
- The total value of DCEDIY funding schemes (ECCE, AIM, NCS, legacy schemes) allocated to the service in the week ending 13 December 2020 must be less than 45% of the ‘calculated-income-capacity’ of the service.
The criteria reflect the continued availability of the enhanced EWSS rates (which are estimated to meet 80% of payroll costs or 50% of operating costs), 100% continued funding of DCEDIY schemes for services that receive the COSP and avail of enhanced ECCE funding, and receipt of parental fees for children attending services that are open. Closed services have reduced operating costs.
