Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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814. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the average time to award a CHICK for a targeted subsidy in that month; the longest time to award a CHICK; the number of awards that took more than one week to process; and the number of those delayed awards that were service providers that paid the full amount due, that is, paid from the date the child started in their service. [21679/20]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) is designed to be flexible, recognising that childcare needs are different for each family. In creating a single national scheme, the aim is to operate within a user-friendly system that can respond to both the parent/carer’s unique circumstances and to also reflect the needs of providers.

The flexibility of the NCS means that the average time for processing applications may not be the best indication of the application experience because the NCS is designed to recognise that childcare needs are different for each family. The financial circumstances of families may also change throughout the year which can require manual intervention. Depending on the application choices and family circumstances their process flow through the system could be different.

There are two types of application:

Universal Application for Universal Subsidies that are available to all families with children under 3 years old. They are also available to families with children over 3 years who have not yet qualified for the free preschool programme (ECCE). This subsidy is not means tested and provides 50c per hour towards the cost of a registered childcare place for a maximum of 40 hours per week (45 hours per week after 7th September 2020).

Income Assessed Application for Income Assessed Subsidies are available to families with children aged between 24 weeks and 15 years. This subsidy is means tested and will be calculated based on your individual circumstances. The rate a family receives will vary depending on their level of family income, child’s age and educational stage, and the number of children in the family.

Parents/carers apply directly to the Scheme for financial support. The NCS offers a flexible application process, with a variety of assessment options for parents. The quickest way for a Parent to have their income assessed is to use the 'Fast Track' option online. Fast Track assessment will gather information from Revenue and DEASP for the most recent year that full income information is available. In general this is either last year or the year before. This requires a verified MyGovID account and families can apply directly at www.ncs.gov.ie.

The innovative, purpose-built IT system of the NCS aims to process a universal application in a matter of minutes, and an income assessed application in a matter of days.

A parent can choose not to Fast Track their assessment if their income has decreased significantly from the previous tax year or if they want to opt out of an automatic assessment. This will require the parent to upload documents to support the application. The NCS advises parents choosing this option the assessment will take longer to process than Fast Track assessments.

The National Childcare Scheme offers a flexible application process sensitive to changes that may happen in families, for example if a parent has lost income due to COVID-19 they can apply for a Current Year Assessment. This allows parents to have their current year’s income assessed to determine their level of subsidy, rather than the default option of the previous tax year. This could more accurately reflect their current income level. In addition to this there is also the ‘Sudden Change Assessment’ option which allows for applicants to declare that they have had an ongoing change to their income. This applies to people who have lost a job or their income has reduced on an ongoing basis for reasons outside of their control. Parents will need to complete a new NCS application to avail of this measure and will unavoidably need to submit documentation as there is no way to automatically process these types of applications.

Parents who do not wish or are unable to submit an online application for the NCS may submit a paper application instead. Parents can apply offline by requesting a postal application form by contacting the NCS Parent Support Centre on 01-9068530.

The longest time to process an application for a CHICK awarded in August was 109 days. This inordinate amount of time was spent awaiting documents to be submitted by the applicant. The system allows for a partially completed application to remain active for some time.

The average processing time for an income assessed application in August was 11 Days, 49% of applications were processed in 7 days (excluding universal applications which are all almost instanteous).

Following this application process the parents will bring this CHICK to their childcare provider in order for their child to be registered for the NCS. NCS subsidies can only be paid once a CHICK has been registered by a childcare provider, and the parent has confirmed on the NCS system that all details are correct.

It is not possible to say whether the parent was in a childcare provider or paying fees whilst the application was being processed or whether the child started with provider after the CHICK was received. This is a local matter between the provider and parent until the provider and parent agree to register the CHICK.

Pobal as scheme administrator, under the oversight of the Department, will continue to monitor the service delivery times and take appropriate measures to speed up processing times and bring efficiencies to bear on what is still a relatively new scheme.