Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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1105. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the reason payments to a person (details supplied) under the national childcare scheme are not backdated to the date the person was entitled to the payment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4518/20]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) opened to online applications on 20 November, and paper based applications became available on 13 March. I am delighted with the volume of applications submitted so far, with over 31,500 applications received relating to over 40,900 children. The Scheme represents the first statutory entitlement to financial support for childcare.

It has always been communicated by my Department that subsidy awards under the NCS are payable from the week they are claimed, and not the date of application.

In the most common type of application, the applicant’s income is automatically assessed on the previous tax year. As the individual in question submitted their application in December 2019, they were assessed on the 2018 tax year. Subsidy payments based on this assessment were then paid.

When the applicant queried their level of subsidy, they were advised of their option to submit a new, manual application to provide for a more current assessment, if their circumstances had changed. Manual income assessments can examine more recent income information for the applicant. However, due to the manual nature of the process, these applications can take longer to process than fast-track automated applications. The new subsidy rate is payable when this assessment is completed and the new award is claimed by the applicant.

Further information and resources for parents are available at www.ncs.gov.ie.