Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 January 2024
486. Deputy Steven Matthews asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if his attention has been drawn to price increases being introduced by (details supplied); if this is permitted under the National Childcare Scheme; if he is concerned of the knock on financial implications for parents impacted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4109/24]
View answerI would like to thank the Deputy for bringing my attention to concerns raised regarding the service provider, Little Explorers Childcare in Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow.
Core Funding is a payment to Partner Services designed to support quality, sustainability, and enhanced public management, with associated conditions in relation to fee control and cost transparency, incorporating funding for administration and to support improved pay and working conditions of staff and to support the employment of graduate staff.
One of the key objectives of Core Funding is to support the sector as a whole with the introduction of direct supply-side funding, in addition to the ECCE programme and the NCS, to create a more stable and sustainable financial environment.
As a condition of receiving Core Funding, Partner Services must uphold their contractual obligations regarding their fees charged to parents/guardians as laid out in the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement. This includes agreement not to increase the fee for any Service Type which was extant on September 30th 2021 or introduce an extra charge for any component of an unchanged Service Type. An increased charge of any kind for an existing and unchanged Service Type will be in breach of Core Funding rules.
The Core Funding fee management system aims to ensure that affordability measures are passed on to parents/guardians.
Furthermore, as outlined in the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement;
• “Fee Policy” means the fee table charged for individuated Service Types and the conditions that apply in implementing the fee table. The Fee Policy will state all of the service offers; care types, hours of care, applicable age ranges, weeks per year, days per week, etc. and the associated fees for each (before the application of NCS subsidies and before and after the deduction of ECCE subsidies).
• It will also describe any additional services in addition to basic fees and the cost of that additional service.
• The Partner Service agrees that they may create new Additional Service to the Fee Policy where it can be clearly shown that this was not part of Fee Policy extant on September 30 20212 and which must be entirely optional to parents/guardians
Additionally, the following guidelines state;
• “Additional Service” is when something additional to a service type is offered to parents/guardians. Take up of the additional service must be entirely optional to parents/guardians. For example a service provider may offer school collection services in addition to their SAC Service Types.
• The charges for items and services which were offered to all parents/guardians in a service for free or at discounted rates on 30 September 2021 cannot be increased beyond these levels. This covers both service types and additional services offered on 30 September 2021.
• Partner Services cannot introduce or extract an extra charge for any Additional Service (such as meals) which was included in the fees on 30 September 2021.
• Any new Additional Services can be charged for, with fees set at the provider’s discretion, but they must be genuinely optional for the parent (e.g. if a service begins offering meals where it had not before, it may charge for these but must allow parents/guardians to supply a packed meal instead).
• If an additional service charge is introduced to fund a tour or outing, for example, a parent must be able to refuse this offer on the basis that they will still receive the early learning and childcare they would be entitled to if the tour or outing had not taken place.
• Additional Services cannot be added to ECCE-only Service Type, these can only offer Optional Extras as defined in the DCEDIY Childcare Funding Programmes Optional Extras Guide.
I would encourage any parent with concerns or questions about fees to contact their local CCC for support and guidance.
The first point of contact for parents and providers in the Core Funding fee review process is their local CCC. Contact details may be found on www.myccc.ie
