Under First 5, the Whole-of Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) has been developing a new funding model for ELC and SAC. An Expert Group was convened to provide recommendations for this model, and their report, Partnership for the Public Good: a New Funding Model for Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare was published in December 2021. Their recommendations were accepted in full by Government.
Core Funding was identified in this report as a key element of the new funding model, which consists of four elements: 1 – Core Funding. 2 – Tackling Disadvantage funding (to be developed after Core Funding is implemented). 3 – National Childcare Scheme (NCS) with some developments. 4 – the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme with some amendments.
Core Funding is a payment to providers designed to support quality, sustainability, and enhanced public management, with associated conditions in relation to fee control and cost transparency, incorporating funding for administration and to support the employment of graduate staff. Core Funding aims to offer better financial sustainability to providers in return for a cultural shift to a partnership relationship between providers and the State that reflects the public good dimension of ELC and SAC.
For the purposes of allocating a Graduate Manager Premium, Core Funding follows the definition of ‘manager’ as set out in Nurturing Skills – The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare, 2022-2028: “The term Manager is used in the Workforce Plan to refer to the person in charge of a setting, as defined in the Early Years Regulations 2016 and SAC Regulations 2018, i.e. ‘the person who has day-to-day charge of the service’. While ELC and SAC services vary considerably in their legal and organisational structures, every service must – as a condition of its registration – have a designated person in charge (here termed the ‘Manager’) who is responsible for the daily running of the service and – unless deputised by a named person – must be on the premises at all times when the service is being carried on.”
With this in mind, an ELC Graduate Manager Premium will be applied for the duration of time a Manager is present on the premises. While more than one person may fill the role of Manager, due to the facilities operating in excess of the working hours of a manager, the amount of hours eligible for the Graduate Manager Premium cannot exceed the hours assigned to the Designated Person in Charge of the setting as defined in the Early Years Regulations 2016 and School Age Childcare Regulations 2018.
For example, if a childcare service operates for 60 hours a week and the Designated Person in Charge works for 40 hours a week, they may also have a deputised named person who covers the remaining 20 hours. However, only the hours worked by the Designated Person in Charge (the manger for the purposes of Core Funding) are counted towards calculating the Graduate Manager Premium – assuming the person in question is an ELC graduate with the necessary experience.
Core Funding allocations are not calculated on the basis of staff pay, including sick pay and annual leave. Core Funding is calculated on the basis of capacity; that is, the number of places that can be offered to children of different ages and the amount of time (in terms of hours per day and weeks per year) that they are offered. More capacity results in a higher cost base, especially staff costs, which is why more funding is allocated to services offering a greater level of capacity. Contributing to improved terms and conditions is one of the central aims the funding allocation is intended to achieve.
Concerning ELC Graduates leading an SAC session, only ELC sessions can have a Graduate Lead Educator Premium when led by an ELC Graduate as there currently is no list of approved qualifications for School Age Childcare services.
Further information will continue to be available here and support, guidance and training will continue to be available through the City and County Childcare Committees.
