Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 November 2023
420. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if his Department developed the national childcare scheme hourly rate rule; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50552/23]
View answerIn answering this query, it is assumed that the deputy is referring to the fact that the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) is funded on the basis of the number of hours of childcare used by the child per week.
The underpinning rationale approach, including the hours based aspect, was set out in the 2016 "Policy Paper on the Development of a new Single Affordable Childcare Scheme" and given statutory expression through the Oireachtas in the Childcare Support Act 2018.
The NCS is designed to substantially reduce costs to families using eligible early learning and childcare. It is designed to be flexible, recognising that early learning and childcare needs are different for each family.
The hours based nature of the NCS is designed to fit around the needs of families and ensure that the reach and effectiveness of funding is maximised through application to acutal usage of early and learning and childcare usage. The family agrees the number of hours to be used with their provider and (within overall scheme limits) these hours are registered with the scheme administrator. This design allows the parents to receive a subsidy for the hours that they actually require. The number of hours can also be altered week to week, for example during a school midterm the parents subsidy can be increased. My Department has also sought to strike balance between the concept of money following the child and stability for early learning and childcare providers. As such the NCS has been consciously designed to be more flexible than its antecedent schemes.
Funding is only adjusted if the level of attendance that the family and provider originally set does not actual manifest over an extended period. In the usual course a warning will issue after 8 weeks and, if not adjusted after 12 weeks, the allocation will be adjusted to reflect the real pattern of attendance. This period can be extended under certain circumstances
To be clear, if a child is occasionally picked up early or misses an occasional day, this will have no impact on funding.
It should also be noted that services also receive funding on staffed capacity via the core funding scheme.
This combination of flexibility, accountability and funding approaches provides an appropriate balance to support parents, providers and ensure the best use of exchequer funding.
