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National Childcare Scheme

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 September 2020

Wednesday, 30 September 2020

Ceisteanna (191)

Cathal Crowe

Ceist:

191. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality and Integration the reason many parents are experiencing delays in drawing down financial assistance under the national childcare scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27680/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) was first launched in November 2019. There are currently over 30,200 children who are subject to a claim by childcare providers. This is the highest number of child registrations on NCS to date and in comparative terms more children are registered for my Department’s schemes overall than were registered at the same time last year.

The online application process for the NCS has been designed to be accessible, intuitive and user-friendly. The flexibility of the NCS means that the Scheme is designed to recognise that childcare needs are different for each family. As such, depending on the particular application type and family circumstances of an applicant, the process flow and processing time can vary between applicants.

The NCS offers a flexible application process, with a variety of assessment options for parents. For income-based applications, the quickest way for a parent to have their income assessed is to use the 'Fast Track' option online. Fast Track assessment will gather information from Revenue and DEASP for the most recent year that full income information is available. In general this is either last year or the year before. This requires a verified MyGovID account and families can apply directly at www.ncs.gov.ie.

A parent can choose not to Fast Track their assessment if their income has decreased significantly from the previous tax year or if they want to opt out of an automatic assessment. This will require the parent to upload documents to support the application. The NCS advises parents choosing this option the assessment will take longer to process than Fast Track assessments.

Parents who do not wish or are unable to submit an online application for the NCS may submit a paper application instead. Parents can apply offline by requesting a postal application form by contacting the NCS Parent Support Centre on 01-9068530.

An application will take longer to process where the Scheme Administrator is awaiting further documents to be submitted by the applicant. The system allows for a partially completed application to remain active for some time.

Following the application process, a parent will receive a ‘CHICK’. Parents must bring this CHICK to their childcare provider in order for their child to be registered for the NCS. NCS subsidies can only be paid once a CHICK has been registered by a childcare provider, and the parent has confirmed on the NCS system that all details are correct.

My Department is not aware of any significant technical issues with the registration of children on the NCS system by childcare providers which would impact the payment of NCS subsidies for parents. A small number of issues have arisen which have been quickly resolved. Such issues are normal within any new system and are being ironed out as they arise.

Pobal as Scheme Administrator, under the oversight of my Department, will continue to monitor the service delivery times and take appropriate measures to speed up processing times where necessary and bring efficiencies to bear on what is still a relatively new scheme.

If the Deputy is aware of specific issues being experienced by individual parents I would encourage him to refer them to the NCS Parent Support Centre on 01 906 8530. Childcare providers experiencing difficulties in registering children on the NCS can be referred to Pobal’s Early Years Provider Centre by contacting eypc@pobal.ie or calling 01 511 7222.

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