DCYA Announcement: Minister Zappone Announces Additional Support Payment for Childcare Providers

The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs today announced an additional programme support payment for 2018/19. This payment is in recognition of the additional administration that childcare providers were tasked with in 2019.

The Minister said:

This funding of €7 million will facilitate an additional payment of c. €1,500 on average to individual providers with the actual amount varying according to service size.

The Programme Support Payment recognises the additional time required of providers of DCYA-funded early learning and care and school age childcare programmes, to complete the administrative work associated with the scheme. The payment also recognises the time required to perform activities outside of contact time with children, such as preparing materials for early learning and care sessions and assisting parents in understanding how they might benefit from the various childcare schemes supported by the State.

While significant progress has been made in the area of Childcare, 2019 has been a challenging year. Beyond educating and caring for children, many Childcare providers now offer the new National Childcare Scheme whilst continuing to operate the existing childcare schemes. In addition the re-registration of services and the introduction of necessary regulations, while important to support safety and quality, also requires childcare providers to undertake additional responsibilities including further administrative work to demonstrate compliance.