Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 October 2022
552. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of registered ECCE providers that have not drawn down and or accessed core funding in 2022. [51134/22]
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. Out of all services which have an active ECCE contract, the figure is higher - 93%.
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.
3,869 services have an active ECCE contract. Of these services, 277 have not yet come into contract for Core Funding. These services include services that only offer the ECCE programme and mixed services that also offer additional provision in alongside the ECCE programme. Services may chose to come in to Core Funding at any point throughout the programme year.
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.
Core Funding allows for a very substantial increase in the total cost base for the sector without requiring those costs to be passed on to parents. The vast majority of services are seeing substantial increases in funding. No service will see a decrease in funding. Core Funding will contribute to services’ sustainability and will significantly increase income for the overwhelming majority of services and provide greater funding stability. Core Funding is worth at least a 9.5 % increase to ECCE services. The value of Core Funding is greater if more hours of service or service for younger children is offered.
With Core Funding in operation for five weeks, key achievements already include:
- Fee management in place for 91% services meaning that fees cannot increase on September 2021 levels, and ensures 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.
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.
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.
Budget 2023 allocates €1,025m to early learning and childcare – a clear demonstration from Government of the value of the sector. Together for Better aims to transform the sector and I am committed to working with Partner Services delivering early learning and childcare for the public good.
