What is Core Funding?

In December 2021, Government adopted the 25 recommendations contained in an Expert Group report, Partnership for the Public Good: A New Funding Model for Early Learning and Childcare.

Core Funding was introduced on the back of these recommendations. It is a grant for early learning and childcare (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC) providers towards their operating costs and is funding directly to providers (supply-side funding) and is designed to improve affordability, quality, inclusion and sustainability.

The majority of Core Funding is distributed to services via the Base Rate, which is based on a service’s staffed capacity – the opening hours, operating weeks, the age group for whom services are provided, and the number of places available. Places do not have to be filled in order to be allocated Core Funding, but for capacity to be funded, there must be enough staff in place to satisfy the minimum staff-to-child ratios.

Core Funding also pays premiums for graduate employees.

It is designed to meet the combined objectives of:

• Affordability for parents through fee management conditions and ensuring that providers offer NCS and ECCE to all eligible children.

• Quality in services, including through better terms and conditions for staff and supporting graduate leadership in services.

• Sustainability for providers through substantially increased funding to the sector, paid on a consistent and equitable basis.

Core Funding operates alongside the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) and the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme and constitutes additional income for providers on top of funding for these schemes, as well as income from parental fees.