Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 January 2022
122. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the estimated total wage bill of the childcare sector; the estimated number of providers covered by public funding; and the schemes that provide same. [3651/22]
View answerTo estimate the wage bill of the sector, my officials have analysed data from the Annual Early Years Sector Profile 2019/20, gathered in Spring 2020. This analysis estimates the (pre-Covid-19) wage bill. This data is assessed to be a better predictor of likely wage costs during Covid-19, given the distorting impact of both public health measures and the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme on pay costs.
Using available data for directly employed staff working with children on average hours worked, average wages, including PRSI and holiday pay, costs were derived. The cost per week of directly employed staff working with children is €11.5m. Using a similar methodology for managers and other ancillary staff who do not work with children, the cost is €1.9m per week. Taken together, this amounts to €13.4m. Applying an uplift to the number of staff at a similar rate across a number of years pre-Covid-19 (3%) and staff pay increases (1% in 2021, based on initial analysis of 2020/21 Sector Profile data; and 3% in 2022, based on typical pre-Covid-19 annual increases in pay), the weekly cost of directly employed staff is estimated to be €14.8m in 2022. Approximately, 38% of staff work 38 weeks per year. It is assumed the remaining 62% hold 52 week contracts. Based on this data, the annual cost of directly employed staff in 2022 (pre-Covid-19 conditions) is estimated to be €690.9m.
This figure does not take into account the income currently received by those working in the sector who are self-employed and who derive their income from profits rather than wages.
Using a similar methodology, the weekly cost of staff on State employment and training schemes is estimated to be €0.97m. This can be uplifted to €1m for 2022. Again, assuming the variance in weeks worked, the annual cost of these staff in 2022 is estimated to be €48.4m.
Based on the above, the overall annual staff cost is estimated to be €739.3m.
There are 4,311 services that have received funding under at least one of my Department's schemes, listed below, in the 2021/22 programme year:
NCS
ECCE
CCSP
AIM
PSP
Capital Ventilation Grant
