Childcare

There is an ongoing government objective to improve communication and engagement across the Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare sector. This includes raising awareness of the range of services and training on offer by City and County Childcare Committees (CCCs) and to raise the profile of the work of CCCs within the sector.

The My CCC website is designed to signpost childcare providers and parents to their local CCCs as part of this objective. It gives an overview of the services on offer by CCCs to parents and providers and will assist people when they need to signpost an individual to these services.

Budget 2017 announced a radical redesign of the delivery of support to make quality childcare accessible and affordable for families in Ireland. The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) provides financial support for parents towards the cost of childcare. It provides a system from which both universal and targeted subsidies can be provided towards the cost of childcare.

This new scheme replaces the existing targeted childcare programmes with a single, streamlined and more user-friendly scheme. It includes “wraparound‟ care for pre-school and school-age children. The ambition of this project is immense; its scope is only matched in size by its complexity.

The scheme will:

• improve outcomes for children
• reduce poverty
• facilitate labour activation
• tangibly reduce the cost of childcare for thousands of families

Community Childcare Subvention Plus (CCSP) Saver Programme

The Community Childcare Subvention Plus (CCSP) Saver Programme is a childcare programme targeted to support parents/guardians on a low income to avail of reduced childcare costs at participating childcare services. Services may cater for infant, pre-school and afterschool places. They may also incorporate a breakfast club. Some services may be stand-alone services and cater for just one type of service e.g. afterschool.

The Department pays a portion of the childcare costs for eligible children (a payment described as a subvention payment) with the parent/guardian paying the remainder. The subvention is available for one year, i.e. for a maximum of 52 weeks from the commencement of the CCSP Saver Programme.

The 2022/2023 CCSP Saver Programme commences on 15th August 2022 and runs until 11th August 2023. This is referred to as the Programme Year.

The CCSP Saver Programme closed on the 15th November 2019. Children who were registered for the CCSP Saver programme on the 12th March 2020 in the 2019/2020 programme year and were in attendance and retained registrations under the CCSP Saver Programme 2021/2022, and who did not leave the CCSP Saver Programme to register for NCS, will be regarded as eligible ‘Savers’ for the purposes of the 2022/2023 programme year.

No new registrations can be made under the CCSP Saver Programme for children who have not been previously registered on the CCSP 2019/2020 programme year.

CCSP Saver Programme Rules 2022-2023

CCSP Saver Programme Rules 2022-2023 (Irish)

A childminder is defined as a self-employed person who minds other people’s children in their own home. They offer a flexible service, tailored to each child, thereby helping parents and guardians to balance their work and family commitments.

A childminder negotiates and agrees her or his terms with parents but the child’s welfare must be the prime consideration of a childminder. Childminders have sole responsibility at all times for the health, safety and wellbeing of each child entrusted to their care.

Under the National Childcare Strategy 2006-2010, the National Guidelines for Childminders intend to provide guidance for good practice to assist childminders.

In August 2019 the Minister launched the Draft Childminding Action Plan for the purpose of public consultation. The Plan sets out proposals for improving access to high quality and affordable early learning and care and school-age childcare through childminding.

Overview

Monitoring and evaluation of early learning and childcare services is conducted by the Tusla Early Years Inspectorate, which is the independent statutory regulator for the sector, and by the Department of Education Inspectorate, which conducts education-focussed inspections of early learning and care (ELC) services. (The Department of Education Inspectorate does not have a role in relation to school-age childcare, SAC.)

The regulation of ELC and SAC is provided for in the Child Care Act 1991 as amended by Part 12 of the Child and Family Agency Act 2013 (the Act), the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016 (the ELC Regulations) and the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) (Registration of School Age Services) Regulations 2018. The regulations set out the minimum standards required to register and operate an ELC or SAC service and also provide for enforcement processes to ensure compliance with the regulations.

Further information on the two inspectorates is available below.

The Tusla Early Years Inspectorate

The Tusla Early Years Inspectorate is the independent statutory regulator of ELC and SAC services in Ireland. It is responsible for the registration and inspection of all ELC and SAC services including playgroups, day nurseries, crèches, day care, school-age childcare, and similar services catering for children aged 0–14 years.

The Tusla Early Years Inspectorate is committed to ensuring that children attending ELC and SAC services are safe, that they receive appropriate care and have a positive experience where they can develop and learn in a quality service. This is achieved through the registration, inspection and enforcement processes prescribed by law and implemented by the Tusla Early Years Inspectorate.

Tusla inspects all ELC services at least once every three years and, in some cases, more frequently. Inspections assess the service’s compliance with the Regulations and, in particular:

• that the service is well governed,
• the health, welfare and development of each child is supported,
• children are safe in the service, and
• the premises are safe and suitable for children’s early learning and care.

Following an inspection, the Inspectorate will provide the service with a draft inspection report. Where non-compliances are found, the service will have an opportunity to respond and to rectify any such non-compliance. The final published inspection reports are publicly available and can be found here. More information on the Tusla Early Years Inspectorate can be found here.

The Department of Education Inspectorate

The Department of Education Inspectorate conducts education-focused inspections of ELC services in receipt of funding from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY). They do this at the request of the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.

Since 2016, Early Years Education Inspections (EYEIs) have been carried out in ELC services participating in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme. In November 2021, in line with commitments in First 5, the Department of Education Inspectorate launched a consultation on plans to extend the EYEI model to all DCEDIY-funded provision for children aged birth to six in ELC settings.

EYEIs evaluate the quality of the nature, range and appropriateness of the early educational experiences for children participating in ELC services. The early years educators and the owners/managers are then provided with feedback on the quality of educational provision in the setting and advice as to how educational provision in the setting can be developed further or improved. Published inspection reports can be accessed here. More information on the Department of Education EYEIs can be found here.

Irish regulations require that all staff working in a pre-school service must hold a full, relevant award at a minimum of Level 5 on the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ), or equivalent as deemed by Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY).

If a person does not hold a qualification on the DCEDIY recognised qualifications list, the applicant is required to send to DCEDIY all the required documentation and apply for recognition of their qualifications. For the purposes of these regulations, DCEDIY require evidence of completed programmes of learning with which are specific to 0-6 years of age in child development, early childhood education – theory and practice, child health and welfare and evidence of professional practice in early years setting. Applicants who start employment without qualification recognition are in breach of the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016.

DCEDIY has published a list of qualifications that meet the regulatory requirements for working in the Early Years sector in Ireland.

DCEDIY does not provide advice on qualification levels regarding National Framework of Qualifications. For information on where your qualification is placed on the NFQ (National Framework of Qualifications), please check with QQI (Quality and Qualifications Ireland) on their website here.

For international qualifications, NARIC Ireland provides advice on the academic recognition of a foreign qualification by comparing it, where possible, to a major award type and level on the Irish National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ).

Work is continuing since May 2019 on the Workforce Development Plan.