Written answers
Monday, 9 September 2024
Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Childcare Services
Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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1319.To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the way he plans to address the issue of crèche owners increasing their fees this September (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter.[33882/24]
Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The service referred to by the Deputy has been in contract for Core Funding since the scheme was introduced in 2022. The service received €132,489.08 in year 1 of Core Funding and, as of June this year, the service had an approved contract value of €137,697.06 for year 2 of the scheme.
Services coming into contract for year 3 of the scheme will benefit from further increases in Core Funding owing to the 15% increase in the total allocation for the scheme, which now stands at €331 million.
To be eligible for Core Funding for the 2023/2024 programme year, it is necessary for 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.
Core Funding requires providers to freeze their fees at 2021 rates, to return deposits to parents and to offer the National Childcare Scheme to parents. It also requires operational and financial transparency over how services operate so that the State can be assured that public money is being used for its intended purpose.
In light of concerns about the fee freeze that have been raised by some providers charging low fees, in addition to the 15% increase in Core Funding in year 3, and improvements to targeted measures for small and sessional services, a new fee increase assessment and approval process has been introduced, whereby services with fees below the average in their county can apply to increase their fees up to an approved level by the Department.
In the case of the fee increase assessment and approval process resulting in the requirement for a fee increase, increases will be approved by my Department at the lesser of:
- the level of increase required following an assessment of the service, or
- the equivalent increase in NCS universal subsidy for parents/guardians
Services in contract for year 3 of Core Funding who increase their fees without approval under the fee increase assessment and approval process will be in breach of the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement.
Where an individual identifies a case of a potential breach of Core Funding fee rules by a service, they may seek to have this examined and a conclusion reached through the Core Funding Fee Review process.
The Department would encourage any parent with concerns or questions about fees to contact their local CCC for support and guidance or to initiate a Core Funding Fee Review. The first point of contact for parents and providers in the Core Funding Fee Review process is their local CCC. Contact details for CCCs may be found on www.myccc.ie.
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