Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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1452. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs further to Parliamentary Question No. 660 of 23 May 2017, if a decision was made to raise subsidy rates proportionally to reflect a rise in wages to €11.50 to educators qualified to level 5 on the National Framework of Qualifications, €13.00 for level 6 educators and €14.75 for level 7 educators; and if employers will be compensated in full for the cost of the pay increases, based on assumptions (details supplied). [35934/17]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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As indicated in my previous reply to the Deputy, the subsidy-rates proposed for the Affordable Childcare Scheme reflect the current cost of delivering childcare, including current wage rates. If wage rates were to rise, my Department would have to examine the possible need for subsidy rates to rise to reflect the higher cost of delivery for childcare providers. Subsidy rates are a matter for Government decision – they would not rise automatically in line with changes in wages. There is no Government decision to increase subsidy rates at this time.

To help support the future development of the Affordable Childcare Scheme, I will shortly be commissioning an Independent Review on the Cost of Quality Childcare. This will be put to tender by mid-August and will be completed within a number of months. My officials have been scoping the work that will be involved and preparing terms of reference for the study. Issues to be examined in the independent review will include:

- Average unit costs for childcare providers (both centre-based providers and home-based childminders).

- Factors that result in different costs for different providers, including age of children, geography (e.g. rural vs. urban), whether a service is a community service or private, and aspects of the quality of provision.

- Comparison of unit costs in high quality services with average services.

- Possible impact of future cost pressures, including potential wage increases.

- Analysis of the childcare market, including the functioning of the childcare market in disadvantaged areas.

I anticipate that this Independent Review will be a key input in informing future decisions on the Affordable Childcare Scheme, including the setting of subsidy rates.

I would like to highlight that while the Department is not an employer of childcare workers it is a significant funder of childcare services and very conscious that there is an issue with regard to the pay and conditions of workers in the sector. Currently, there is no formal employer or employee (trade union) representation in place for the child care sector. Such representation will be central to progressing the issue of pay and conditions in the sector, through an established industrial relations mechanism such as Sectoral Employment Orders.