The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme is a universal two year pre-school programme available to all children within the eligible age range. A child must have reached 2 years and 8 months of age on or prior to 31 August of the relevant programme year to be eligible.
Children born between January and December 2022 are eligible to begin ECCE in September 2025 and avail of a second year in September 2026. There are no exceptions to the eligible start dates however It is important to note that all children are eligible for 2 years of free pre-school under the ECCE programme.
In order to ensure objectivity and fairness, it is essential that clear rules exist for the scheme and that they are applied evenly. I accept that the use of age limits in a scheme such as ECCE creates a situation whereby a child can fall just outside the age range, however, my Department have to place an age cut-off at some point, and in the interests of fairness and consistency there can be no discretion in this regard.
I have appointed Stranmillis University College, Belfast to undertake an independent review of the ECCE programme. The review will assess whether the ECCE Programme is meeting its core objectives and will identify any changes or improvements that can be made to the Programme, based on international evidence and experience to date. The final report is expected to be completed by the end of 2023. I will then consider the review fully and consider any policy changes that may need to be made to the programme.
