Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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1362.To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if a case regarding childcare fees causing understandable distress to parents (details supplied) will be examined; and if he will make a statement on the matter.[34428/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The introduction of Core Funding in 2022 brought a significant increase in investment for the sector, with €259 million of funding paid directly to services in year 1 of the scheme, of which €210.8 million was entirely new funding.

This funding, which increased by 11% (to €287 million) in year 2, will increase again by another 15% in year 3 (to €331 million). This will facilitate the following changes from 2 September:

• The Base Rates for all age groups are increasing with larger increases in funding for places offered to children under the age of three.
• The flat rate for services registered on the Tusla Early Years Register as sessional-only (a pre-school service offering a programme for a total of not more than 3.5 hours per session) is increasing from €4,075 to €5,000.
• The minimum Base Rate allocation is increasing from €8,150 to €14,000.
• The maximum Base Rate allocation is decreasing from €600,000 to €500,000.

Up to now, services availing of Core Funding have not been allowed to raise their fees above what was charged to parents on 30 September 2021 (or at the point of first signing up for Core Funding if the service did not exist on 30 September 2021).

The fee freeze will remain in place for the majority of these services for year 3 of Core Funding, though there are two new developments:

• Services whose fees have been frozen at a level that may not be sufficient to sustain their business even with increased funding available through Core Funding, will have the opportunity to apply for a Fee Increase Assessment. Only services currently charging low fees (fees below the average in their county) will be eligible to apply.
• A cap on fees is being introduced for services joining Core Funding for the first time in the third year. A fee cap will apply to all services in Core Funding from September 2025.

• the level of increase required following an assessment of the service, or
• the equivalent increase in NCS universal subsidy for parents/guardians

This measure must balance the need of parents/guardians for stability with their early learning and childcare costs and the need for providers to operate viable businesses in order to continue providing this public good service for their community. Therefore, a core element of this process is the requirement to demonstrate the need for an approved fee increase.

In addition to the increased level of Core Funding for year 3 of the scheme and fee management developments, there are wider financial supports available from the Department where a service is experiencing financial difficulty or has concerns about their viability, which can be accessed while remaining within Core Funding.

I have encouraged services to avail of these supports as an alternative to withdrawing from Core Funding and removing the benefit of Core Funding to children and their families.

At present, no service has been approved for a fee increase by my Department as the application process for all applicants is still ongoing.

If a service is deemed eligible to apply for an approved fee increase, my Department will supply a template letter for the service to send to parents/guardians, as official notice of a potential change in fees.

The initial notice will only begin from the date this template letter is circulated to parents/guardians, and any fee increase which is implemented less than 20 working days after this letter or in the absence of approval by Department may be a breach of the Core Funding rules.

Any parent/guardian with concerns or questions about fees or in the event that an individual wishes to raise a concern regarding a potential breach in fee conditions, the first step is to reach out to their local CCC for support and guidance. Contact details for local CCC can be found at www.myccc.ie.

The table below includes the breakdown the Core Funding allocation for Tigers services for year 1 and year 2 of the scheme.