Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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520. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth his plans to improve rates of pay for childcare workers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21490/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I recognise that pay in the sector remains low and does not reflect the importance of the work early years educators and school age childcare practitioners do and I am committed to supporting further improvements.

As the State does not employ staff in ELC and SAC services, neither I nor my Department can set wage levels or determine working conditions for staff in the sector.

However, there is now, through the independent Joint Labour Committee (JLC) process, a formal mechanism established by which employer and employee representatives can negotiate terms and conditions of employment including minimum pay rates for different roles in ELC and SAC services.

This process provided the first ever Employment Regulation Orders for the sector and increased wages for over 70% of staff working in services.

I understand that the JLC continues to meet and have submitter to the Labour Court new draft EROs proposing a 5% increase in minimum rates for all grades and the removal of 3 years experience requirement for graduate minimum pay rates.

Outcomes from the JLC process are support by the Government through the Core Funding scheme, which has an allocation for this programme year alone of €287 million and I will again increase this allocation by a further 15%, for the third year of the scheme, to €331 million.

In line with commitments in First 5, in December 2021, I launched Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age Childcare (SAC), 2022-2028. Nurturing Skills aims to strengthen the ongoing process of professionalisation for those working in ELC and SAC and to raise the profile of careers in the sector. It includes a career framework and commitments to support early years educators to upskill and develop their careers. It also includes commitments to strengthen continuing professional development for staff working in the sector.

I also recently established a sub-group of the Early Learning and Childcare Stakeholder Forum to discuss issues of recruitment and retention with stakeholders in the sector. This group has met on two occasions since December last year and is scheduled to meet again in mid May.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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To be eligible for Core Funding for the 2023/2024 programme year, it is necessary for all Partner Services to agree to the Core Funding Fee Management terms and conditions as laid out in the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement, and the fee management guidelines. These terms and conditions require services not to increase the fees charged to parents above what was charged on 30 September 2021. This action is guided by the recommendations of the Expert Group, as approved by Government, to ensure that the introduction of fee management to the sector is done in a sustainable and considered manner.

In Year 1 of Core Funding, some €259 million was allocated under the scheme and 99% of services saw their income increase through Core Funding with 1%, or close to 60 services, receiving top up payments to ensure their income did not decrease for the same level of provision offered.

For the second year of operation, Core Funding increased by €28 million, an 11% increase, to a total of €287m.

Arising from Budget 2024, the Core Funding allocation for year 3 of the scheme will increase by 15% - to €331 million. This will support the delivery of a range of enhancements in Year 3 of the scheme to support improved affordability and accessibility for families, improved pay and conditions for the workforce and improved sustainability for providers. The details of the allocation model for year 3 of Core Funding will be published in the coming weeks.

Increasing the Core Funding budget while maintaining the same level of conditions on fees, will help embed the Core Funding Fee Management system in the sector and prepare the sector for the ongoing development of fee management in future years.

It is a matter for providers to decide whether they wish to withdraw from Core Funding and the associated Fee Management. However, I am confident that given the level of investment in this Scheme, which will increase to €331 million for programme year 3, services should not need to take this step.

I do not want any services to be faced with financial sustainability issues and I am fully committed to working with any such service to support them in delivering early learning and childcare for the public good.

Supports are available from my Department where a service is experiencing financial difficulty or has concerns about their viability, accessed through local City/County Childcare Committee (CCC). Once a service engages with their local CCC they will be able to avail of supports through the case management process.

Through this process, local CCC and Pobal work together to assess and provide support to ELC and SAC services experiencing difficulties. This support can take the form of general operational supports as well as more specialised advice and support appropriate to the individual circumstances of a service. In some instances, financial supports may be deemed appropriate in tandem with the case management process.

Financial supports, which may also be accessed through the case management process, are available to all Core Funding Partner Services, both community and private, who are experiencing financial difficulty, following a financial assessment by Pobal.

Officials in my Department have asked Pobal to make contact with the service’s local CCC, in order to advise them of the supports available to them.

I would strongly encourage any service who would like to avail of advice or supports on a concern regarding their sustainability, to reach out to their local CCC. Contact details for their local CCC can be found at www.myccc.ie