Written answers

Tuesday, 4 July 2017

Department of Children and Youth Affairs

Affordable Childcare Scheme Establishment

Photo of Jan O'SullivanJan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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49. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the interim arrangements for the new child care supplement in view of the fact that the database will not be ready in time to receive new applications in September 2017; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30784/17]

Photo of Katherine ZapponeKatherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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On 11 April, I announced that the Affordable Childcare Scheme would not commence this September, but that a range of measures would be introduced by my Department to make childcare more affordable for thousands of families throughout Ireland. This honours a key commitment in the Programme for Government. I can confirm that these measures will commence this September. The measures are as follows:

A new universal subsidy will be available for all children aged between 6 months and 3 years of age (or until they are eligible for ECCE e.g 3 years and 3 months) in Tusla registered childcare. This will amount to as much as €1,040 per year for children in full time childcare.

In addition, subsidies provided under existing childcare schemes, specifically the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) and Training and Employment Childcare (TEC) Schemes, have been increased significantly, in some cases by as much as 50%. To illustrate the effect of this increase, the highest subsidy provided under the CCS scheme for full time childcare in 2016 was €95 per week. This will increase to €145 per week from September. This should decrease the co-payment required by families who qualify and therefore make childcare more accessible and affordable to these families; assisting parents in their return to training or employment and lifting families out of poverty.

These subsidies, both universal and targeted, will be available through childcare services who contract with my Department to deliver the schemes. The schemes are open to 4,500 community (not-for-profit) and private providers across the country.

In order to ensure that parents and childcare providers are aware of the changes to the schemes this September, a comprehensive information campaign is underway. Information packs have been sent to over 4,000 registered childcare services and information events for services have been provided at eight locations throughout the country.

A dedicated website has been launched (affordablechildcare.ie) and information for parents went live on this website on Monday 29 May to inform them of the various enhanced childcare supports they may qualify for this September. A campaign via various media, including digital and radio, has also raised awareness among parents.

There are no IT issues which will prevent the roll-out of the September measures to all eligible families. Registrations of children for the various programmes will go live from August 21. Work on the development of the new Affordable Childcare Scheme continues, in parallel to these September measures, and I will provide additional information on this in due course.

Photo of Niamh SmythNiamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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50. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the status of the affordable childcare scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31226/17]

Photo of Katherine ZapponeKatherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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As announced in April of this year, the Affordable Childcare Scheme (ACS) will not commence this September, as development continues on the legislation and IT system to underpin it.

As the ACS will not be ready in time for this September, my focus turned to ensuring that the benefits of more affordable childcare could be delivered to as many children as possible from this September and that additional funding I secured in Budget 2017 would be delivered to families. Existing targeted childcare supports provided under the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) and the Training and Employment Childcare (TEC) Schemes will be enhanced significantly from September, some by up to 50%. In addition, every child in Tusla-registered childcare services, between the ages of 6 months and eligibility for ECCE (3 years or over) will be eligible for some level of childcare support totalling as much as €1,040 per year.

I remain strongly committed to introducing the ACS and will do so at the earliest possible date. My Department has made considerable progress in this regard. The Government has approved the Heads of Bill for the Scheme, and officials are working intensively to plan for successful implementation of the Scheme. However, I am conscious that this is a complex project which we must get right from the beginning. We need to have the legislation, business processes and a new robust IT system in place. We will need to test the Scheme rigorously to ensure that it works properly for families and providers.

Whilst delivering the scheme as soon as possible remains a priority, I believe that it is prudent to take time to ensure we get the new systems right, so that they operate smoothly for everyone. I want to build a system that will underpin childcare supports for children and investment in the childcare sector for years to come. We are well on our way to introducing the ACS. When fully operational it will be a state of the art system which will be capable of delivering, not just for this generation of children, but also for generations to come. In the meantime, I am satisfied that the September measures will honour the Government’s commitment to delivering more affordable childcare to families.

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