Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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962. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the additional supports the early years sector will receive for the duration of the level 5 restrictions in view of the fact they are expected to remain open; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32810/20]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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My Department has introduced a number of measures to support the Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age Childcare (SAC) sector during these unprecedented times.

The Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) was introduced on 1 August 2020. EWSS is an economy-wide enterprise support for eligible businesses in respect of eligible employees. It provides a flat-rate subsidy to qualifying employers based on the numbers of paid and eligible employees on the employer’s payroll; and it charges a reduced rate of employer PRSI of 0.5% on wages paid that are eligible for the subsidy payment.

ELC and SAC services registered with Tusla received an exemption from the EWSS turnover requirements. The rate of subsidy the employer will receive per paid eligible employee under EWSS was enhanced on 20 October 2020 in response to nationwide level 5 restrictions.

Under the enhanced rates, ELC and SAC services with EWSS will have approximately 80% of payroll costs covered. This equates to approximately 50% of the usual operating costs of these services – allowing them to operate sustainably with lower occupancy rates and higher delivery costs due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Government introduced the Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021: Plan for Living with Covid-19 on 15 September 2020. The plan outlines the medium-term approach to managing risk and supporting society and business through Covid restrictions at each level from 1 to 5. The plan recognises that education (ELC, SAC and schooling) provides for the holistic development of children and young people and is the foundation for lifelong learning and wellbeing. It is also essential to parents’ abilities to balance work with family responsibilities especially those in the workforce on whom we rely to deliver essential services. For this reason, keeping ELC and SAC open is a top priority at each level of restrictions.

Under the July stimulus support package, my Department continues to provide all ELC and SAC subsidy schemes at existing capitation and subsidy rates. These include the National Childcare Scheme (NCS), Community Childcare Subvention Plus (CCSP) Saver Programme, Training and Employment Childcare (TEC) Saver Programme and the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Scheme.

The recent introduction of the Covid-19 Sustainability Support Fund 2020 is in addition to the all-of-Government July Stimulus package for ELC and SAC Services. The purpose of the grant is to support the sustainability of ELC and SAC services whose viability is still negatively affected by the Covid-19 pandemic - in circumstances where supplementary support is required in addition to other July Stimulus supports such as the EWSS.

This is the first time that my Department’s sustainability funding has been made available to both private for-profit providers and community non-profit providers, subject to eligibility criteria and an assessment of need. The funding is also available to eligible sole traders for whom the EWSS is not applicable because they do not have employees, including ECCE providers

The sustainability grant provides funding to successful applicants to offset losses caused by a decrease in occupancy and/or an increase in costs. Sustainability will be supported by providing a grant proportionate to the short-term level of loss in 2020.

While it is hoped that the recently-announced enhancements to the EWSS will result in a significant decrease in need for this funding, the Covid-19 sustainability support remains available, where needed. Applications for the first round of funding closed on 20 October, and the dates of future application windows will be announced shortly.

In addition to the Covid-19 sustainability support, my Department oversees a case management support facility through which local CCCs and Pobal work together to assess and provide assistance to ELC and SAC services in difficulty. This support, can include help with completing and interpreting analysis of staff ratios, fee setting, cash flow difficulties, as well as more specialised advice and support appropriate to individual circumstances. Any service that needs this support should contact their local CCC in the first instance.

In terms of the provision of specific public health advice and guidance for the sector, expert health guidance on the safe reopening of ELC and SAC services during the Covid-19 pandemic was published by the HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) on 29 May and updated on 31 July. No additional measures apply under the current level 5 restrictions.