As announced as part of Budget 2017, from September 2017, a new Affordable Childcare scheme will be introduced which will provide financial support for parents towards the cost of childcare. The new scheme will provide a system from which both universal and targeted subsidies can be provided towards the cost of childcare. This new scheme will replace the existing targeted childcare programmes with a single, streamlined and more user-friendly scheme and is intended to provide “wraparound care for pre-school and school-age children.
In 2017, the expected number of children benefitting from the new Affordable Childcare scheme is estimated at 79,000. This includes 25,000 children who will benefit from the universal subsidy. An estimated 54,000 children will benefit from the targeted subsidies, including 31,500 children who already receive support under the current targeted schemes and 22,500 new beneficiaries.
The Department commissions an annual survey of childcare providers, the 'Service Profile' compiled by Pobal. The most recent edition of this indicates that, as of April 2016, there were up to 20,000 vacancies in childcare providers nationwide. However the issue of capacity in the childcare sector is complex and not possible to capture with reference to current vacancies alone – depending on infrastructure, services are able to increase capacity in response to demand, through the recruitment of additional staff or the adaptation of available space; while other providers are in a position to extend premises or move to larger premises. In addition, the Department receives several hundred applications from new providers wishing to enter into contract every year.
Current and recent work by the Department has focused on the expansion of the ECCE scheme, which is now underway - the Department projects that the expanded ECCE scheme will have a peak enrolment of 127,000 children in the April-June session in 2017. This is an increase of 60,000 children from the pre-expansion volume.
In anticipation of the increased demand for places in the Early Childhood Care and Education Scheme for 2016/17, the Department introduced a number of measures to assist Early Years providers and ensure sufficient capacity – for example the Department provided capital funding of €4m to services throughout the country to increase capacity, a fund that was later increased to €6.5m, allowing all applications that met the criteria for grant funding to be approved. This capital scheme has already provided several thousand new places, and this number will increase as works are completed. Provision of €4.5 million has been made in Budget 2017 for Capital expenditure and my Department will bring formal proposals in this regard as soon as possible.
The Department has also encouraged workers in the sector to attain ECCE Room Leader qualifications via targeted Learner Funds, while also widening access to ECCE Higher Capitation for the 2016/17 preschool year.
The Department has worked closely with Childcare Committees Ireland to analyse demand for places on a geographic basis, to identify any shortages in provision, and to work intensively with services in areas where shortfalls might have been expected to occur.
Additionally, the 2016 Programme for a Partnership Government contained two specific commitments in relation to School Age children. The first was a commitment to introduce a new system to support and expand quality after school care, and the second was in relation to utilising primary school buildings for after school care provision. In view of these commitments the Inter-Departmental Group on School Age Childcare was established in June 2016 and is due to report shortly.
As part of its work, the Group has considered and assessed the many issues surrounding this commitment, and the funding implications of implementing an after-school scheme for school-aged children. Matters to be considered by the Inter-Departmental group included the demand for services and the capacity to provide these and the development of an appropriate quality and standards framework.
Finally, in order to meet the needs of parents whose preference is to use a child minder, and to build capacity to cater for increased demand in future years, my Department has commenced talks with Childminding Ireland (CMI) in recent months to explore a number of options around how quality can be assured within the child minding sector.
A Working Group has been established, chaired by CMI, and including officials from Tusla and the DCYA, to make recommendations on reforms for the sector including proposals in relation to quality assurance, whether on a voluntary / non-statutory basis in the short term, or on a mandatory / statutory basis in the long term. These would include recommendations in relation to child minders who are not currently eligible to apply for registration with Tusla (those minding three or fewer pre-school children, or those minding school age children only). The recommendations received are likely to include proposals to be progressed in the short, medium and long term.
The on-going monitoring of trends in relation to capacity in the sector in advance of September 2017 will help the Department to develop policy measures that may be required in order to encourage the provision of additional capacity within the sector. Provision was made in Budget 2017 for capital funding for the Early Years Sector of €4.5m, and the Department is currently considering the most effective use of this funding. The Department will communicate with the sector in this regard on an on-going basis.
