Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 June 2022
407. Deputy Richard O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if discussions are expected to provide additional funding for crèches to enable them to reduce the cost per child, given that parents are struggling with the cost of childcare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31395/22]
View answerFirst 5 sets out a commitment to increase State spending on Early Learning and Childcare to at least €1bn by 2028.
Already, more than 100,000 children avail of the Early Childhood Care and Education Programme (ECCE) programme, a universal two-year pre-school programme available free to all children within the eligible age range. In addition, the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) provides financial support to thousands of families to help with the cost of early learning and childcare. There are two types of subsidies available under the NCS:
- Universal subsidies are available to all families with children under 3 years old. They are also available to families with children over 3 years who have not yet qualified for ECCE. This subsidy is not means tested and provides 50c per hour towards the cost of a registered place for a maximum of 45 hours per week.
- Income Assessed Subsidies are available to families with children aged between 24 weeks and 15 years. This subsidy is means tested. The subsidy varies depending on family income, child(ren’s) age and educational stage, and the number of children in the family. The maximum available income assessed subsidy, dependent on the aforementioned conditions, is €5.10 per hour or a maximum weekly subsidy of €229.50.
A recent review of the NCS revealed that, as a proportion of total family early learning and childcare costs, 6% of families receiving NCS support reported that all early learning and childcare costs were covered by the NCS, while 38% reported that half or more of their costs were covered by the NCS.
Since the review took place, I announced a further package of measures to directly address the costs of early learning and childcare in Budget 2022, including:
- an extension of the NCS universal subsidy to all children under 15, benefitting up to 40,000 children from September this year.
- an end to the practice of deducting hours spent in pre-school or school from the entitlement to NCS subsidised hours from spring 2022, benefitting an estimated 5,000 children from low income families since 2 May.
- a new core funding scheme – worth €221m in a full year – to support:
- improved quality through better pay and conditions for the workforce by supporting agreement on an ERO through the JLC;
- the employment of graduate staff; and
- improved sustainability and stability for services.
The new funding model being implemented aims to transform the sector to one that is increasingly publicly funded and publicly managed, delivering a service for the public good, through a partnership between the State and providers, to the benefit of children, parents, educators and practitioners, and society overall.
A new fee management system, attached to core funding, will mean no increase in fees from pre-pandemic levels for the September 2022 to August 2023 programme year, which, in tandem with developments to the NCS will together deliver significantly improved affordability for parents.
We will continue to build on this in Budget 2023 and into the future and as I have indicated before, in this year's budget my focus is on reducing the cost for parents by increased investment in the NCS.
