Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 May 2020
1095. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if out-of-term time for early childcare education and school age schemes will be reviewed (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4066/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Department of Children and Youth Affairs has never expected service providers to make up for Bank Holidays on the ECCE scheme. Weeks with Bank Holidays are considered as full weeks and service providers are paid for a full five days.
Bank Holidays are automatically pre-populated on each provider’s service calendar. These do not impact on a service provider’s obligation to meet the ECCE Programme parameters of 38 weeks or 183 days, but rather it helps to adjust the number of non-payable weeks for a service provider.
A child who receives an enhanced award under the National Childcare Scheme (NCS), while at the same time being eligible for ECCE, will receive an award of up to 25 hours of subsidised care during term time, and up to 40 hours of subsidised care outside of term time.
Childcare providers have some flexibility in determining which weeks are term weeks. Non-term weeks can be entered when registering a child and entering claim details, or at a later date.
Primary school children have 38 weeks of term time in which they can receive a wraparound subsidy under the NCS. Children in junior and senior infants can receive up to 17 hours of subsidised hours per week during term time, and up to 40 hours of subsidised care in non-term time. Children in first to sixth class can receive up to 12 hours of subsidised hours per week in term time, and up to 40 hours of subsidised care per week in non-term time.
