Niamh Smyth
Ceist:34. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the status of the affordable childcare scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6967/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 13 February 2019
Ceisteanna (34, 46, 58)
Seán Sherlock
Ceist:46. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs when the affordable childcare scheme will be operational. [7070/19]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Anne Rabbitte
Ceist:58. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the status of the implementation of the affordable childcare scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7067/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí ó Béal (9 píosaí cainte)
What is the status of the affordable childcare scheme and will the Minister make a statement on the matter?
I propose to take Questions Nos. 34, 46 and 58 together.
I am delighted to report positive progress in the development of the affordable childcare scheme and confirm our plans for the scheme to launch this October, with payments flowing from November. The launch of this scheme will, as indicated earlier, alter the landscape of childcare in Ireland. It will provide financial support for parents, establish a sustainable platform for investment in the childcare sector for decades to come and, crucially, allow us to continue to invest in giving our children the best start in life. Following on from the enactment of the Childcare Support Act last July, detailed secondary legislation and policy guidelines are now being finalised. Our information technology, IT, development contractor, Codec, is working with officials from the Department and Pobal to develop the scheme's supporting IT system to ensure that it will be available on schedule. The project is complex and challenging but a rigorous project management methodology and strong governance structures are in place to manage it.
In December, I signed regulations that will provide, for the first time, for the registration of school-age childcare services with Tusla, and these regulations will come into force on 18 February next. This means that school-age childcare services will be able to participate in the scheme from the beginning, which is a very significant change. An information campaign for parents and the public will commence in the near future. This will run alongside comprehensive training and information supports for childcare providers and other key stakeholders, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to be well prepared in advance of the scheme's launch.
From March, my Department will launch a comprehensive communications campaign that will advise parents and guardians how they can avail of the scheme and the levels of subsidy to which they could be entitled. That is important. This campaign will run concurrently with a campaign for childcare providers to answer their queries on the scheme and provide training to prepare them for operating the scheme in October.
Under measures included in budget 2019, I was pleased to have been able to further enhance the scheme by raising the upper and lower thresholds for income-related subsidies. These increases will poverty-proof the scheme for families on lower incomes, allow more families with higher incomes to access subsidies under the scheme and ensure that an even greater number of families overall will now benefit from the scheme once it is launched. Of course, there is a lot of work to do between now and October next to have the affordable childcare scheme up and running for parents. I will continue to work intensively with my Department and Pobal to have the scheme ready and functioning properly. It is an exciting development and will make a real difference to children, parents, families, society and our economy.
That is all very welcome. As we know, childcare costs continue to be crippling for parents, some of whom spend up to 35%, or even more, on childcare services. We are one of the most expensive countries in the world when it comes to childcare costs. Has the Minister any statistics on the uptake of this scheme in crèches in Cavan and Monaghan? Will she give us some indication of the appetite of childcare providers for it?
The Minister referred to communication, which is welcome. It is very important that parents and childcare providers are fully informed. This is especially true for parents because they are all so busy with their own lives and trying to keep on top of mortgage payments and jobs. What form of communication will that be? Will it be via social media or local radio? The Minister also speaks about the training to be provided as part of the scheme. Will the Minister provide some more information on that?
The cost of childcare for many families is still exceptionally challenging, as I am well aware. As the Deputies know, we have seen significant investment over the past couple of years but we started from a low base. It is as simple as that. We are conscious of the need for investment not only to ensure that childcare is affordable but also that it is of a high quality. The latter point relates to what we are able to pay our great childcare providers and professionals.
I do not have any specific information on the facilities in Cavan and Monaghan but I will certainly look at that for the Deputy and get back to her if we have any details. I presume she is asking about the future appetite of providers. My understanding is that there is a great appetite for this, although people do not necessarily have to sign up to it. Ultimately, there will be great ease in administration from a provider's perspective and in the process of signing up children from a parent's perspective.
What role will city and county childcare committees play in communicating this and ensuring that there is support for both parents and providers? We have morning, after-school and full-day sessions, along with breakfast clubs, so an amount of information must be brought to everybody. I am sure city and county childcare bodies will have a large role to play.
There is the matter of information technology and the rolling out of the affordable childcare scheme. If everything fits in a box, that would be perfect, but there are exceptional cases so will there be training for such instances? A person may have an illness and a mum who would normally pay for the service could be out of work, so will those scenarios be taken into account? What will be the level of support provided to deal with those exceptional cases?
An earlier question from Deputy Rabbitte and Deputy Niamh Smyth's question relate to affordability. With our use of information technology, it will be much easier and more straightforward to increase investment for families and make changes to thresholds, whether they are at the lower or higher end. It will be streamlined into one way of looking at a family's income and the supports required by children. We are building a platform where it will be easier for investment and policy decisions to increase lower and higher thresholds to be made.
The Deputies asked about the information campaign and the county and city childcare committees will be involved. I will get a bit more detail for the Deputy but these organisations are at the coalface. We will use many forms of communication, including social media. We did this before and the Deputies would have seen the information everywhere. The Deputy asked about training, particularly for providers; we will have IT processes and there is always an opportunity to have people from the Department standing by if there are difficulties.
I thank the Minister for the information provided. We have received feedback from childcare providers in particular across Cavan and Monaghan. My colleague, Deputy Rabbitte, has been to Cavan to meet some of those childcare providers. The administrative end of all these schemes can cause heartache.
It has become very burdensome for the childcare providers in terms of paperwork. I have received feedback about the absolute frustration that they do not get to do the job they want to do, which is to provide childcare, because their time and energy are so taken up with bureaucracy. I fully endorse keeping checks and balances, however, will the Minister talk about the bureaucracy? Her opening remarks referred to this being eased for childcare providers, which would be welcome, but they want to know what they can expect in the new scheme.
I will take it from the point of view of parents. I return to the exceptional cases. Part of the affordable childcare scheme is that where there are exceptional cases there is streamlining between the parent making communication with the provider and the provider contacting the city and county childcare provision. Where is that going to be logged and assessed for funding? Will it be done electronically or through a paper system, or does the city and county childcare make the application? I am looking at this from a parent's point of view. God forbid something unforeseen happens and that a parent cannot afford to make the payment for childcare for whatever reason, I want to know the mechanism for availing of support in the context of the 35%.
I refer to Deputy Smyth's questions. Absolutely, the intention is that there will be an easing of bureaucracy. That is a significant aspect of the establishment of the scheme. Will it happen all at once? No, probably not, but we are preparing for it and for the transition. The Deputies will be aware that part of the investment has been towards increasing the team in my Department and it has been working closely with all the providers as well as researchers and people across the country in an effort to consider everything and prepare so as to get it right. Streamlining, particularly through the ICT system, will take time as people will need to learn how to operate it. We have continued to invest in order to support providers with bureaucracy and have continued to increase payments to providers in recognition of this. Sometimes this involved difficult fights with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, though I won some of them.
Deputy Rabbitte asked good questions, including how parents can cope if their circumstances change. I will assume that both the county and childcare committees will support the providers, although the providers will be there first. It is a very good question which I will bring back to the Department for consideration.