I propose to take Questions Nos. 971 and 972 together.
My Department runs a number of Early Learning and Care schemes. The schemes are administered by Pobal on behalf of my Department.
My Department introduced a number of supports to mitigate against impacts of COVID-19 on the Early Learning and Care and School- Age Childcare Sector in 2020 and has continued to provide supports in 2021.
From early January 2021, due to ongoing COVID-19 Level 5 restrictions, the pre-school (ECCE) programme was suspended while other Early Learning and Care Services were open to children
whose parents work in an essential service and for vulnerable children only.
During this period in January 2021, services received funding as normal with ECCE only services, forced to close, paid under Force Majeure.
Following continuation of Level 5 restrictions in February, where the pre-school (ECCE) programme continued to be suspended, funding for the period 01 February to 05 March 2021 for the Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare Services was as follows:
- Services open during this period will continue to receive 70% of the value of ECCE programme funding and 100% of funding provided under other Department schemes (i.e. the National Childcare Scheme (NCS), the Community Childcare Subvention Plus (CCSP), and the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM)) These services can also receive the additional 30% of the value of ECCE Programme funding if they commit to certain conditions that includes waiving fees for parents not using the service and retaining staff where possible.
- Services closed during this period, where the closure is approved by the Department, will receive 70% of the value of ECCE programme funding and 100% of funding provided under other Department schemes (i.e. NCS, CCSP, and AIM). This funding will be conditional on a commitment to waive fees for parents and retain staff where possible.
- A newly designed Covid-19 Support Payment is being put in place to support some providers with a significant reliance on parental fee income to waive fees during this period while remaining sustainable.
The table below shows the funding provided to services during the period 01 February to 05 March 2021 at 70% rate and at 100% rate. It should be noted that the 30% top-up was calculated weekly and in some instances, services were received a mix of 100% and 70% rate. This additional information has been included in the table:
Service Overview
|
No of Services
|
Payment (€m)
|
Services paid 70% all weeks due
|
2081
|
€ 11.1
|
Services paid 100% all weeks due
|
1730
|
€ 18.3
|
Services paid mix 100%/70% per week
|
127
|
€ 1.0
|
Total
|
3938
|
€ 30.4
|
The table below shows ECCE allocation and expenditure in 2020 and to date in 2021:
Year
|
Scheme
|
Allocation
|
Drawdown
|
2020
|
ECCE
|
€ 208.62
|
€ 216.64
|
2021
|
ECCE
|
€ 289.30
|
€ 164.30
|