The latest round of childcare subsidies come into effect on Monday with Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman saying they will have a positive impact on thousands of families with young children over the coming year.
So, what’s happening?
Increases to the National Childcare Scheme were announced in the budget last year. Almost all families with a child in full-time childcare with a registered provider will receive an additional €33 per week, more than €1,700 for the year, in supports with the same amount available for each additional child.
Almost all?
Yes, a minority will be impacted by increases some providers are being allowed to impose on parents directly. Families with children in these services may find they start benefiting from the extra €33 from next week but then lose some or all of it again at some point during the weeks that follow as applications for fee increases are processed.
Which services will be allowed to impose the increases?
Only those services believed to have fallen behind average prices in their county, often because they set their current levels well before the receipt of Government funding required them to freeze fees and were then caught out. Mr O’Gorman put the proportion of registered services applying for increases at 9 per cent so far and said it was not clear how many of those would be allowed some or all of the maximum figure.
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Registered services?
About 7 per cent of roughly 5,000 service providers did not register for Core Funding during the year just finishing, and so are not subject to any price controls. The Department of Children says the numbers are shaping up to be broadly the same this time around although they acknowledge it is too early yet to be sure.
To date, just a handful have confirmed their intention to withdraw although for the parents impacted, the small numbers will be of little consolation given the scale of the fee increases generally involved.
What other measures are taking effect?
An additional €44 million is to be spent on Core Funding, with improved measures, the department says, to support parents, providers and the expansion of capacity.
Currently, there is an estimated shortfall of about 16,000 childcare places for children under 3-years old. The department says overall numbers are growing and the proportion of income families are having to spend on childcare is falling significantly. Fee caps are also being introduced for new services before rolled out across all funded ones.
So everyone is happy then?
Predictably, no. Overall, some €1.1 billion of public money will go into the sector this year but staff are still widely recognised to be underpaid, many families are still struggling to find places or pay hefty bills and many providers are still arguing they are not receiving enough, particularly when the amount of control they are subject to is taken into account. That, supporters of the system say, comes with the money.
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