Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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There are two types of subsidies available under the National Childcare Scheme:

• Universal Subsidies are available to all families with children under 15 years old. This subsidy is not means tested and provides €2.14 per hour towards the cost of a registered childcare place for a maximum of 45 hours per week.
• Income Assessed Subsidies are available to families with children aged between 24 weeks and 15 years. This subsidy is means tested and will be calculated based on individual circumstances. The rate will vary depending on the level of family income, child age and educational stage, and the number of children in a family.

This Department does not hold individualised fee data for parents as these are local agreements between parents and providers; instead a reduction in the average cost of ELC to parents is examined. To estimate this cost, data from Pobal on average weekly fees across the country was used. Assuming a 45-hour week for all children, an hourly universal subsidy of €3.36 was derived to achieve the desired outcome.

As this costing is based on an average fee, the impact of this change would vary based on the level of fees within the services, patterns of usage and age of the child. The below estimate has been costed as such that all children in the scheme will have their costs reduced to at least €200 per month, in some cases the reduction will be greater.

The ESRI SWITCH model was then used to estimate the quantum of the change and applied to the Departments baseline cost of the NCS. A full year cost of €193.65m was estimated for this change.

This estimate comes with a number of caveats, from September 2024 a number of enhancements were made to the NCS, the estimates factor in these changes:1. Increase in universal subsidy from €1.40 to €2.14.

2. Extension of NCS to families availing of childminders

3. Increase in NCS sponsor subsidy to €5.30 per hour for all children over the age of 1.

The impact of these changes are yet to be determined and carry a risk of altering the above costings due to increased participation of childminders for example. As such extensions to the scheme are based on estimates.

In addition, this costing is made on the basis of a static system; that is, the model assumes that the level of usage of eligible ELC does not increase or decrease but remains static. Any changes to subsidies may create a change in behaviour of families, for example, return to/increased labour force participation and use of formal ELC for the first time.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Due to the complexity of the above scenario and its divergence from current resource modelling, this will require some time to gather data, construct a model and respond.

Officials will revert to the Deputy directly as soon as possible.