Written answers

Tuesday, 8 July 2014

Department of Children and Youth Affairs

Early Child Care Education

Photo of Róisín ShortallRóisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Independent)
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878. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if there is a cap on the fees that early child care providers can charge parents who qualify for subsidised child care under the community childcare subvention scheme and the child care education and training schemes; and if not, if he will provide details on the average weekly cost payable by parents under each scheme. [29866/14]

Photo of Charles FlanaganCharles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme provides funding to community childcare services to enable them to provide quality childcare at reduced rates to disadvantaged and low income working parents.

The CCS programme, which provides support for sessional pre-school, full time, part time and after school places, is targeted at disadvantaged or low income families and eligibility is based on means-tested entitlements. In the case of full day care, parents qualifying for the higher rate of subvention under the CCS programme can have up to €95 per week deducted from the overall charge for childcare in the participating childcare facility. Pro-rata reductions are made in respect of the other services provided. The overall charge is based on the total costs incurred by the facility in providing the service and can vary depending on the level of overhead costs involved.

Figures provided in the Early Years Sector Survey 2012 published by Pobal indicate that the average cost of full day care in a community facility is in the region of €160 per week. The survey does point out that the cost in urban settings are at the higher end of the scale.

The implementation of the CCS programme is closely monitored, with each participating service submitting a fees policy document to its local City/County Childcare Committee for approval. This document outlines the factors which make up the overall costs of the service provision and also the cost to the parent after the application of the subvention funding. This helps to ensure that qualifying parents receive the full benefit of the subvention provided.

The Childcare Education and Training Support (CETS) programme supports parents who are endeavouring to enter or return to the workforce and who are participating in training or educational courses for this purpose. Under the CETS programme childcare services are contracted to provide childcare places to qualifying Solas or Education and Training Boards trainees or students for the duration of their courses. This programme also provides part time and after school places.

Under the programme €145 per week is provided towards the cost of a full day childcare place and the service is permitted to charge up to a further €25 per week towards the cost of the place. Childcare services providing a part time place under the programme that includes a pick up from primary school receive a weekly payment of €80 with a maximum charge of €15 per week to the parent. The standard after school weekly payment is €45 with a charge of €5 per week to the parent. Pro rata rates apply for parents who receive a reduced level of service.

Two additional support programmes, which were introduced initially under the CETS programme, are also implemented by my Department.

The After-School Child Care (ASCC) programme was introduced in October 2013. This programme provides after-school care for primary school children for certain categories of working parents for a once-off period of 52 weeks. I announced today along with my colleague, Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton, T.D., a number of enhancements to the ASCC programmes which will expand the range of eligibility for the programme and provide a pick up service for primary school children at no additional cost to the parent. The changes announced today reduces the parental contribution from €20 to €15 per week with the programme contributing €40 per week for the after-school care and now providing €105 per week for full day childcare during the holiday period This payment is to provide for holiday periods when the child would need full day care. Pro-rata rate applies for parents who require support over a shorter weekly period.

The Community Employment Childcare (CEC) programme was introduced in January 2014. Under the CEC programme €80 per week is provided with a set charge of €15 per week to the parent. This support can be accessed by qualifying parents over a number of years. Today it was also announced that this programme now provides part time care for children up to the age of 13 whose parents are participating in CE programmes. The upper age limit was previously 5 years and the new age limit is part of a number of enhancements to the programmes that I announced today. A further enhancement to the programme includes an after-school option which enables qualifying CE parents of primary school children to obtain after-school care at a weekly cost of €15. The programme contribution for this new option is €40 per week.

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