Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 July 2022
412. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will confirm that if a child is in after school care and previously qualified for the national childcare scheme universal subsidy when in a creche that they will now qualify for additional support under the NCS in September; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38753/22]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware, the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) is a Scheme of financial support to help parents with the cost of their childcare.
The Scheme comprises two types of subsidies:
- A universal subsidy is currently payable for children between the ages of 24 weeks and 36 months (or until the child qualifies for the Early Childhood Care and Education programme if later) who are availing of childcare services from an approved childcare service provider. The universal subsidy is not means-tested and is available to all qualifying families of any income level.
- An income-related subsidy is payable for children from 24 weeks to 15 years of age who are availing of childcare services from an approved childcare service provider. The level of subsidy is determined by the family’s assessable income (i.e. gross income minus tax, PRSI and other deductibles and minus any applicable multiple child discount).
Significant investment is being made by my Department to address affordability for parents through the NCS. I announced a number of changes to the Scheme as part of last year's Budget 2022. These changes will be of significant benefit to many parents. Firstly, from 2 May, the NCS no longer deducts hours spent in pre-school, or school, from NCS awards. This means that parents may use their full awarded subsidised NCS hours.
Secondly, from September 2022, the upper age eligibility for the NCS Universal Award will change from 3 years to 15 years. This means that the minimum rate for an NCS Award will be raised to 50 cents for all children under 15.
These changes taken together mean that the parents of the child referred to in the question will be eligible for the NCS universal subsidy for after school care in September and, depending on their means, may be eligible for a universal subsidy.
Funding for the NCS will increase over the coming three years, to improve the affordability of childcare for parents. The amounts of NCS funding for each year will be set in the relevant Budgets.
