Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 October 2022
550. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the supports that he can make available to ECCE providers in respect of the administrative burden that the Hive hub presents to end users. [51132/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Hive is part of the new Early Years Platform which Pobal uses to administer various Early Learning and Childcare Schemes. It is a self-service portal which has been designed to meet the current and future needs of providers in an accessible and intuitive manner.
On an annual basis, up to 200,000 children are registered on the Early Years Platform for the NCS and ECCE.
The Early Years Platform is relatively new and as with any new IT system, it takes time to bed in for all parties. This September, another major new component, Core Funding, was added to the Hive. I am aware that the addition of this major component may have affected response times and user experience on the Hive, and that this came at a very busy and challenging time for the sector. My officials continue to work with Pobal, the scheme administrator, to identify potential issues and mitigate any problems during future peak periods of activity on the Hive.
In December 2021, I announced major reforms to the funding model for early learning and childcare services. That month, Government adopted the 25 recommendations contained in an Expert Group report, "Partnership for the Public Good: A New Funding Model for Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age Childcare (SAC)”
Recommendation 2 states that the new Core Funding stream should incorporate funding for administration and to support the employment of graduate staff. Core Funding is underpinned by the Employment Regulation Orders, and its primary purpose is to improve pay and conditions in the sector as a whole and improve affordability for parents as well as ensuring a stable income to providers.
While Core Funding operates in addition to and alongside the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) and the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, including the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM), it replaces ECCE higher capitation and incorporates funding previously allocated to the discretionary Programme Support Payments (PSP) from September 2022.
Pobal continues to provide support and assistance directly to early learning and childcare providers through their dedicated Early Years Provider Centre. There is a dedicated suite of training aids and reference material, including videos, available on The Hive to assist users.
My Department has engaged with Pobal on continued enhancements to the system to ensure it is responsive to early learning and childcare providers' business needs. Pobal is also arranging to engage with system users to see where further training or support may be required.
Providers experiencing issues using the Hive can also avail of assistance from the City and County Childcare Committees who are funded by my Department to provide supports directly to providers in their area, including one-to-one guidance, and training via a dedicated training platform for the Hive users.
I am further advised by my officials that they will also be engaging with all key stakeholders to explore how the system may be further enhanced to minimise administrative burden on providers as additional supports for families and the sector come on stream.
I would note that my Department has commenced a review of the ECCE programme which is expected to be completed by Q3 2023. The review will assess whether the ECCE Programme is meeting its core objectives and will identify any changes or improvements that can be made to the Programme, based on international evidence, experience to date as well as consultation from a wide number of stakeholders.
