Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 September 2023
857. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of hours funded under the free early childhood care and education scheme; the number of children who take it up, indicating those who complete two years; the hourly payment made to providers; and when this was last increased. [40351/23]
View answerThe Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is a universal two-year pre-school programme available to all children within the eligible age range. The programme is provided for three hours per day, five days per week over 38 weeks per year and runs from September to June each year, aligned with the primary school calendar.
To deliver this programme, pre-school providers receive a capitation of €69.00 per child per week.
For the programme year 2022-23 there were 108,605 children registered on the ECCE programme. Based on the latest data available from the Department of Education 83% of children availing of ECCE complete the two years with the remaining 17% choosing to start primary school rather than continuing with their second year of ECCE .
The ECCE capitation paid to pre-school providers increased by 7% in September 2018 from €64.50 to €69. The hourly payment for each child attending the ECCE service is €4.60.
On 15th September 2022, 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 as well as stability and sustainability for providers. 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.
The primary purpose of the new Core Funding scheme is to improve pay and conditions in the sector as a whole and improve affordability for parents as well as ensuring a stable income to providers. Core Funding is allocated to services based on the number of child places being made available (whether filled or not), the age group of children for whom the places are available and the number of hours the places are available for, as well as the graduate qualifications of leaders in the service. Core Funding allows for substantial increases in the total cost base for the sector, related both to pay and non-pay costs, without additional costs being passed on to parents. Core Funding was worth €259 million in its first year of operation (September 2022-August 2023), and has increased to €287 million for the second programme year which began on 1 September 2023. Between ECCE and Core Funding, ECCE services will now get a minimum of €79.20 per child per week. This is before the additional graduate premium of €4.44 per hour and the flat rate of €4,075 per year for sessional-only services are added, where applicable. With 8 children, this €79.20 translates to a minimum of €42.24 per hour of ECCE service delivery; more commonly with 11 children, this will be €58.08 per hour to operate the service.
Budget 2023 allocates €1,025m to early learning and childcare – a significant increase in funding and a clear demonstration from Government of the value of the sector.
