Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 July 2021
379. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when he expects the survey on income and costs for childcare sector being complied by Pobal to be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35801/21]
Amharc ar fhreagra380. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if services receive approximately 60% of their service income from parental fees and the remainder 40% excluding Covid-19 supports from the State in the latest Annual Early Years Survey; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35802/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 379 and 380 together.
An Independent Review of the Cost of Delivering Childcare in Ireland, undertaken by Crowe in on behalf of my Department, was published in November 2020. The project was designed to provide a robust evidence base for the further development of high quality ELC and SAC in Ireland. The outputs, including the costs calculator developed through this project inform the development of funding schemes and are being considered by the Expert Group which is working on the development of a new funding model for the sector.
This Review found that approximately 40% of the total income to the sector comes from parental fees. The remainder came from State supports. This percentage was found to vary significantly across services. Many services rely entirely on State funding while others services rely exclusively on parental fees. In a sustainable service, it is expected that the income to services (from both parental fees and State funding) covers the costs of delivering services with a margin of surplus.
Over the past year, these income and costs data captured as part of the Review have underpinned the substantial COVID-19 supports secured including the exemption for employers in the sector to the rule in the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme of having to demonstrate the reduction in turnover that is required by other employers.
Data for this Review was collected prior to the COVID-19 pandemic so the analysis of the breakdown of service income between State investment and parental fees does not take account of the special financial supports that have been made available to the sector since March 2020.
My Department is aware of the importance of collecting high quality income and cost data. This year, a new supplementary income and costs survey has been circulated to all providers alongside the annual Early Years Service Profile survey, administered by Pobal on behalf of the Department.
The data collected will be essential to assess the impact of the pandemic on the sector and to inform future policy development. The survey deadline is 30 June. Once the data is reviewed and cleaned, decisions will be taken on publication.
