Press release
National Childcare Scheme, Early Learning and Care Capital Funding Announcement
From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Published on
Last updated on
Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr Katherine Zappone TD, has today announced that capital funding will be available to service providers who sign up to the new National Childcare Scheme. The funding will allow service providers to purchase ICT support which will assist them in recording and reporting children’s attendance.
Announcing the funding, Minister Zappone noted:
“The National Childcare Scheme has been designed to be flexible and responsive, with families’ needs and the business requirements of our dedicated childcare service providers in mind. We know that family life happens, and the Scheme’s attendance rules recognise and respond to this."
"I also want to make it as easy and efficient as possible for providers to meet their obligations in relation to recording and reporting attendance. This ICT support grant, coupled with our new ‘one stop shop’ template, will do just that, ensuring streamlined administration and more time spent doing the work that really matters – providing quality Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare to our nation’s children.”
A standard template for maintaining attendance records will also be made available to providers. This template will meet providers’ needs not just for the National Childcare Scheme but also the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme and Tulsa registrations.
On the development of the template, Minister Zappone further commented:
“This is another important step in supporting providers to meet requirements which are necessary to ensure that public funds are used to support the maximum number of families possible. For the first time, there is a single, coherent document on which they can rely in terms of meeting their attendance recording obligations.”
Applications for capital funding are set to open in June and detailed guidelines on the application process will be published on www.ncs.gov.ie in the coming days.
Providers can purchase ICT support which meets the eligibility criteria and will be reimbursed for the amount spent up to the maximum amount allowable. A full list of eligibility criteria will be laid out in the application guidelines.
The maximum grants will vary depending on the size of the service availing of State supports, and will range from €500 to €2,000.
ENDS
Grants for ICT hardware and software of between €500 and €2,000 will be available to services participating in the National Childcare Scheme.
This National Childcare Scheme will provide financial support for families towards the cost of high quality childcare.
The Scheme will open to applications in October 2019 and aims to: