Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 June 2022
157. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if childcare fees will be capped for families who cannot qualify for the national childcare scheme and have more than one child in childcare services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31026/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraOne of my top priorities in Government is to improve affordability of Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age Childcare (SAC) for parents. The package of measures announced in Budget 2022, particularly the Transition Fund and Core Funding, are designed to ensure that fees to parents do not increase and that the full affordability benefits of the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) are felt without being absorbed in fee increases.
The introduction of fee management measures is one of the recommendations contained in the Expert Group report, 'Partnership for the Public Good: A New Funding Model for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare' , as approved by Government. Fee management will start with the requirement for providers to maintain fees at or below September 2021 levels to access Core Funding in 2022. This will be developed further in future years.
From August 2020 to April 2022, ELC and SAC services could access the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) without having to demonstrate a reduction in turnover required by other employers. This significant level of funding to the sector has ensured that fees have remained largely static for the last two years and that providers have continued to be sustainable.
Following the tapering of EWSS and prior to the introduction of Core Funding, a Transition Fund is available to providers. The primary conditionality of the Transition Fund is an agreement not to increase fees from September 2021 levels. I am delighted to report that so far 94% of services have agreed to operate a freeze on parental fees by coming into contract for the Transition Fund.
Following the Transition Fund, Core Funding will become available from September 2022 and will be worth up to €221 million in a full year. A central condition of Core Funding will be that providers agree not to increase fees above those which were charged last year. This will give parents greater certainty about what they will be charged and ensure that increases to National Childcare Scheme (NCS) subsidies are not absorbed by fee increases.
NCS provides income-assess and universal subsidies in respect of ELC and SAC. Income-assessed subsidies are available to families with children aged between 24 weeks and 15 years. This subsidy is means-tested and calculated based on individual circumstances. Rates will vary depending on the level of family income, the child’s age and educational stage, and the number of children in the family.
Parents who do not qualify for an income-assessed subsidy may qualify for a universal subsidy. The universal subsidy is currently available to all families with children under 3 years old and families with children over 3 who have not yet qualified for the free preschool programme (ECCE). This subsidy is not means tested and provides 50 cents per hour towards the cost of a registered childcare place for a maximum of 45 hours per week.
Two significant number developments to the Scheme were announced as part of Budget 2022.
The first development, which came into effect on 2 May, has removed the practice of deducting hours spent in pre-school, or school, from NCS awards. This means that parents may use their full awarded subsidised NCS hours – benefitting an estimated 5,000 children from low income families.
The second change will extend the NCS universal subsidy to all children under the age of 15 from September 2022 – benefitting up to 40,000 children.
Both of these changes will result in more families receiving additional subsidised hours for early learning and childcare.
Additionally, participation in NCS is a requirement for services to come into contract for Core Funding (unless they are a sessional pre school service only).
Ensuring no fee increase, in tandem with developments to the NCS will together deliver improved affordability for parents and I hope to build on these in future.
As you can see, I am committed to putting in place a strong foundation to improve affordability for parents and sustainability for services, as well as improved quality of provision, including pay and conditions for the workforce. This foundation will allow for further developments in future years.
