Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 October 2022
164. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he has had discussions recently with representative organisations concerning the impact of recent changes in relation to the core funding model given that concerns have been experienced by some ECCE childcare providers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50623/22]
View answerOn 15 September, I launched Together for Better, the new funding model for early learning and childcare. This new funding model supports the delivery of early learning and childcare for the public good, for quality and affordability for children, parents and families.
Together for Better brings together three major programmes, the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, including the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM), the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) and the new Core Funding scheme.
I am delighted that to date, 91% - well over 4,000 - providers have signed up. Of these, 972 are based in Dublin. This is a tremendous level of uptake and will make a positive impact for parents and children using these services through investment in quality and in affordability with more funding for staff and a commitment not to increase fees.
Stakeholder engagement has been a key part of the development of the new funding model from the beginning. The Expert Group tasked with reviewing the existing model and developing the new model undertook a widespread programme of stakeholder consultation and engagement. Over two years they heard from parents, providers, the workforce, the public, and other stakeholders, all of which is documented and published.
Since Core Funding was announced last year as part of Budget 2022, my Department has hosted eight meetings of the Early Learning and Childcare Stakeholder Forum, and several Core Funding specific meetings with the Forum, provider representatives, and the Joint Labour Committee. In particular, during August and September, there were frequent meetings with provider representative groups in preparation for the commencement of Core Funding.
Representations received from individual providers on Core Funding have been shared with the relevant Officials. I have also met with and visited a number of early learning and childcare services.
While a large majority of providers have embraced Core Funding, some have raised concerns about the impact of the changes to the funding model on small services in particular. The rationale for the change in approach is to allow for a fairer distribution of supports for graduate staff and I have been unequivocal that no service will lose out in the funding this year compared to last year. The safety net of sustainability supports is available for the small number who may experience financial difficulty.
We are not seeing any evidence of a significant lack of sustainability for ECCE-only services or to suggest that services will face closure as a result of Core Funding. Services that are experiencing difficulty and who would like support are encouraged to contact their City/County Childcare Committee (CCC) to access case management supports. Services can be assisted on an individual basis through this route and it also allows for trends and themes across the country to be identified that can inform a more systematic response if necessary.
We are not receiving any indications from CCCs that there have been providers reporting financial difficulties and in need of support. This case management process through the CCCs is the route to access additional sustainability funding if required. The Department, Pobal and the CCC’s continue to closely monitor trends concerning services entering case management and will continue to maintain the availability of Sustainability Funding for individual services at risk.
Across the country, the 30 CCCs have been working intensively to support individual providers and parents with the new scheme and continue to be available to do so.
With Core Funding in operation for four weeks, key achievements already include:
- Fee management in place for over 90% services on at least September 2021 levels, to ensure that developments in National Childcare Scheme (NCS) are fully realised by parents.
- Agreement of Employment Regulation Orders covering staff at all grades in the sector and instituting differential pay rates for graduate staff in certain roles, putting in place a career framework for staff in the sector to support recruitment and retention.
- Improved pay for an estimated 73% of those working in the sector who will see their wages rise as a result of the Employment Regulation Orders, which would not have been achieved without Core Funding.
- A significant expansion of capacity, resulting in more hours of provision for parents and children and opportunities for staff to work more hours per week and weeks per year.
I was delighted to announce under Budget 2023 that the original allocation for Core Funding will be increased to €259 million for Year 1 of the Scheme to meet the cost of expanded capacity that has materialised through the actual application data that has been received to date. In addition, the full year value of Core Funding will increase by €28 million to €287 million in Year 2 of the Scheme, an increase of 11% in the allocation.
The additional allocation to Core Funding in Year 1 of the Scheme will cover the additional costs arising from substantially increased capacity, and particularly capacity for younger children which we have seen grow significantly, as well as covering the increased costs arising from greater numbers of graduates in leadership roles.
In Year 2 of the Scheme, I intend to remove the requirement of 3 years’ experience for graduate premiums and plan to support this change with approximately €4 million, on condition of an ERO reflecting this change for both Graduate Lead Educator and Graduate Managers roles. Many representatives in the sector advocated for this development. The additional allocation for Year 2 will also allow for some further developments to Core Funding which may include additional investment through the base rate or more targeted approaches. Any such developments will be driven by analysis of data available through the Core Funding application process.
