Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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290. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will provide a list of all early years and SAC services that are in receipt of the graduate premium. [52496/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Services with Early Learning and Care (ELC) graduate Lead Educators/Managers will receive an additional allocation through the ELC Graduate and Manager Premiums where they apply.

In order for a service to be allocated an ELC Graduate Premium, the Lead Educator in an ELC room and/or the Manager of an ELC or a combined ELC and School Age Childcare (SAC) service and must hold an appropriate qualification (QQI Level 7 or higher) as per the Department’s Higher Capitation Qualifications list. They must also have a minimum of three years’ experience in the sector.

The ELC Graduate Premium is calculated based on the number of ELC graduate Lead Educators in ELC rooms and the hours that they lead in those rooms; and if the ELC or combined ELC and SAC service has an ELC graduate as the manager, the premium is calculated on the hours the Graduate Manager works or the hours of operation of the service whichever is the lesser.

The definition of a Lead Educator is taken from ‘Nurturing Skills – The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare, 2022-2028’: “An Early Years Educator who leads practice with a group of children will be termed ‘Lead Educator’. The term ‘Lead Educator’ is used to reflect the important pedagogical leadership role played by these individuals with a group of children and with other Early Years Educators who are also working with that group of children. For the purposes of Core Funding, each ELC room can only have one Lead Educator at any one time; even if the children are organised into groups within the room.

The definition of a Manager is also taken from Nurturing Skills – The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare, 2022-2028’: “The term Manager is used in the Workforce Plan to refer to the person in charge of a setting, as defined in the Early Years Regulations 2016 and SAC Regulations 2018, i.e. ‘the person who has day-to-day charge of the service’. This person may or may not be the Registered Provider. While ELC and SAC services vary considerably in their legal and organisational structures, every service must – as a condition of its registration – have a designated person in charge (here termed the ‘Manager’) who is responsible for the daily running of the service and – unless deputised by a named person – must be on the premises at all times when the service is being carried on.” The Core Funding Graduate Manager premium can only be attracted by this designated person in charge, not by any of the other members of staff who may deputise when the manager is not present.

Attached is a list of services contracted into Core Funding and the amount of funding they are expected to receive under the Graduate Premium and the Manager Premium, and the sum total of these two premiums. This data capture was taken on the 27th of September 2022. This list does not contain services that had submitted applications but had not yet contracted, nor services which had applications in draft. 

Where services have graduate Lead Educators or graduate Managers, details and evidence of the qualifications of these staff are required in order to pay the graduate premium part of Core Funding. The process of appraising this evidence is ongoing. Although the final calculation will be subject to appraisal of any accompanying evidence submitted with it, payments are being made on a provisional basis using the results of this calculation while the appraisal process takes place.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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291. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth his plans to increase the income limits for the income assessed strand of the National Childcare Subsidy; the details of any analysis carried out by his Department in this regard; if he will clarify what, if any, mitigating circumstances are taken into account when assessing a subsidy application in respect of parents earning marginally over the income limit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52498/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Income thresholds are monitored on an ongoing basis relative to income information from the Central Statistics Office and considering measures of relative income poverty thresholds. The National Childcare Scheme is designed to implement various adjustments reflecting the policy decisions and priorities of Government. Such adjustments may be to subsidies or income thresholds amongst other things

Budget 2023 introduced enhancements to NCS subsidies which will come into effect on 2 January 2023. From this date, all families accessing registered early learning and childcare will receive an NCS subsidy of at least €1.40.

There are two types of subsidies available to parents:

- Universal subsidies are available to all families with children between 24 weeks and 15 years of age. This subsidy is not means tested and currently provides 50c per hour towards the cost of a registered childcare place for a maximum of 45 hours per week. This will rise to €1.40 per hour from 2 January 2023.

- Alternatively,Income Assessed Subsidiesare available to families with children aged between 24 weeks and 15 years. This subsidy is means tested and will be calculated based on the applicant’s individual circumstances. The ratewill vary depending on the level of family income, the child’s age and educational stage, and the number of children in a family. It can be used towards the cost of a Tusla registered childcare place for up to a maximum of 45 hours per week. To apply for an Income Assessed subsidy, the applicant’s reckonable family income has to be less than €60,000.

The current subsidy rates are:

From January 2^nd2023 the subsidy rates will be:

For income-assessed awards, the highest levels of subsidy will go to families at or below the minimum reckonable income threshold of €26,000, with the level of subsidy tapering down to the minimum subsidy rate as income rises towards the maximum net income threshold of €60,000. The extension of eligibility for the universal subsidy to all children under 15 coupled with the increase to €1.40 will mean the taper rate for those with a net income of €60,000 and above will be further reduced. This is because this group will see the highest reduction in weekly childcare costs as a result of the increase. These changes avoid a step effect for those whose incomes fall just outside the eligibility for income assessed subsidies.

Under the NCS, “Reckonable income” refers to the income that will be assessed when an application is made. It comprises of family income, including Department of Social Protection (DSP) payments, after tax, PRSI, USC, and any allowable items under the Scheme have been deducted. A full list of income deductions and exclusions is available on www.ncs.gov.ie/faqs.

"Allowable deductions" to income assessment are permitted  and a list of these are provided in Schedule 1 of the Childcare Support Act 2018. Broadly it includes income tax, pension deductions,  and certain grants for education and labour activation.