Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 June 2016
37. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her views on the fact that some providers of the early childhood care and education scheme (details supplied) have experienced a reduction in their capitation fees as a result of the expansion in capacity to facilitate the second free preschool year under the scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14838/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am aware of the service in question and it is my understanding that a decision was taken to remove higher capitation status from this service with effect from January 4th 2016 after a Pobal verification visit found it to be non-compliant with the terms of the scheme for the 2015-16 programme. The service have been contacted and informed of their right to appeal this decision.
For a childcare service to be approved for the higher capitation rate in respect of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme in 2015-2016 they were required to satisfy criteria regarding qualifications and ratios, which applied to all ECCE rooms/sessions in the service. All pre-schools had to satisfy the minimum qualification requirements as approved on the published list of my Department's Early Years Recognised Qualifications (level 7 or equivalent) and have at least three years' experience working in the early years sector. All pre-school assistants were required to be qualified to level 5 on the National Framework of Qualifications. Services also had to ensure that they had enough appropriately qualified staff present for each ECCE session to cover the amount of children present at that time. While it is recognised that there may be challenges in securing staff qualified to Level 7 (or equivalent) in all pre-school rooms, the aim of the significant Government investment in free pre-school is to ensure that children have access to the best quality care and education in their early years.
Following the announcement of the expansion of ECCE in Budget 2016, and the efforts being made by the pre-school sector to provide sufficient additional capacity, my Department decided to make two changes to policy to encourage capacity development: From September 2016, the rules regarding qualifying for higher capitation rate are to change, to allow for Higher Capitation to be paid per room in a service, rather than all rooms being required to meet the criteria. As a result, this particular service will qualify for the Higher Capitation rate for rooms led by level 7 qualified room leaders from September 2016. It was also decided after Budget 2016 that some leniency would be given during compliance visits (for the 2015-16 programme year only) to pre-school providers in receipt of higher capitation that can prove that a that a fully qualified room leader with a minimum level 7 qualification (or equivalent) had been recruited, but was unable to commence employment immediately due to delays experienced with Garda vetting. It is my understanding that this was not the case with this particular service.
