Core Funding Fee Management Conditions

Core Funding Partner Services must follow Fee Management conditions.

The rules currently in place are outlined fully in the Agreement for provision of Core Funding year 3. However, a summary of the rules is provided below.

The Scheme enters its fourth Programme year on September 2025, and from this date, services must follow the rules outlined in the Agreement for the Provision of Core Funding year 4.

Fee Caps 2024/2025

In year 3 fee caps applied to services who joined Core Funding for the first time in the 2024/2025 programme year.

Fee Caps 2025/2026

From September 2025 a new maximum fee cap will be introduced for all new and existing Partner Services, which will further lower the maximum fees that can be charged depending on the number of hours provided.

This will reduce costs for families who are facing the highest fees across the country. This will impact approximately 10 per cent of early learning and childcare providers.

Under these new maximum fee caps, the highest possible fees will be no more than €295 per week for a typical full day place of between 40-50 hours per week.

It is important to note that these fees for parents are then reduced by State subsidies under the National Childcare Scheme and the free, universal two-year Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) preschool programme.

A parent being charged the maximum permissible fee of €295 per week for a typical full day place would be entitled to receive the universal National Childcare Scheme subsidy of €96.30, meaning their own co-payment would be no more than €198.70 per week.

For a child availing of ECCE and NCS this fee is further reduced to €134.20 at a maximum.

Higher subsidies are available for many parents, depending on their level of income and the age and number of children in their family.

The new maximum fee caps scale with the level of care purchased under a fee.

The table below shows the maximum fee that can be charged by Partner Services for the different levels of care purchased.

Where an individual child is availing of multiple service types, the fee cap will apply based on the total weekly cost of provision (i.e., fees charged to parents) for the total weekly hours agreed between the Parent/Guardian and provider. For example, where a parent avails of a breakfast club for 5 hours a week and afterschool care for 5 hours a week the total hours agreed would be 10 hours per week, which places the fee in Band B and subject to a maximum fee of €118.

Other fee management rules, such as those regarding proportionality increases/decreases, remain the same. However, compliance with the fee structure will now take precedence above these other rules.

For example, if a service offers 15 hours of care at a cost of €105 per week, and would like to increase to 19 hours of care a week, a proportional increase would see a new charge of €133. With the introduction of the maximum allowable fee, the Partner Service would still be in Band B, and therefore only allowed to charge a maximum of €118.

Where a Partner Service must reduce their fee to comply with the fee structure, the maximum allowable fee will be set as the new baseline fee for any proportional increases/decreases. These values will be assessed annually as part of the progressive development of the fee management system under Core Funding and in line with Government commitments to progressively reduce the cost of early learning and childcare.

Maintaining Fees charged at September 2021 rates

Partner Services agree not to increase the fees charged to parents, for the same level of provision above what was charged on 30 September 2021. If the Partner Service was not in existence on 30 September 2021, they cannot increase fees charged to parents above the level they were when they first joined Core Funding.

If a Partner Services wishes to change their offerings they may do so, but there are rules on how they can change their fees when this happens. Partner Services who make changes to their offerings must follow the proportionality rules below.

This freeze on fees will continue to apply from September 2025. This will be the fourth year that fees will be frozen at 2021 rates, supported by the State investment through Core Funding.

Proportionality Rules

If a Partner Service increases the hours they offer within a session, they can increase the fees charged to parents by the same percentage they have increased their hours. For example if a service had a full time offer of 40 hours per week, and charged parents €100, and then increased the offer to 50 hours per week they have increased their hours by 25%, so their fees can increase by 25% to €125 per week. The Partner Services does not have to increase by 25%, but they cannot increase by more, they may choose to charge parents €120 for the 50 hours per week.

Similarly, if a Partner Service would like to decrease the hours they offer within a session, they must decrease the fees charged to parents by at least the same percentage they have decreased the hours. For example, if a service had a full time offer of 50 hours per week and charged parents €100, and decrease their offer to 40 hours per week, they will have decreased their hours by 20%, so their fees must decrease by at least 20% to €80. The Partner Service can decrease their fees by more than 20%, but fees charged must decrease by at least this amount.

Some Partner services may have changed their offerings completely since September 2021. The same rules on proportionality apply. For example, if a service was previously only offering only part-time care of 20 hours per week at a cost of €50 and would like to introduce a full-time session for 40 hours per week, they can, but they must not charge more than €100.

If a service would like to offer a new session type, e.g., to a new age range, the fee cannot be more than the closest equivalent fee on 30 September 2021, or the date the service first signed up to Core Funding

If a provider was an ECCE only service and would like to expand to include the additional 30minutes, part-time or full-time care they can, so long as they follow the rules on proportionality. However, as these services do not charge parents because ECCE is free at the point of use, the rule son proportionality are based on the “Fee Excluding ECCE” column on their Fee List. If the service has declared nothing in the “Fee Excluding ECCE” column or listed a fee below the standard capitation rate (€69), can use €69 for 15 hours of care as their base for proportionality.

The fee freeze, and the above fee management conditions remain in place for the majority of these services for year 3 of Core Funding, however, services whose fees have been frozen at a level that may not be sufficient to sustain their business even with increased funding available through Core Funding had the opportunity to apply for a Fee Increase Assessment.

The Department will also issue a letter to Partner Services who have been approved for a fee increase. This letter will include the new maximum fee which can be charged by the service and the date this is effective from. The service cannot request parents to pay this increased fee prior to the date shown on the letter.

Incorporated Services

Some Partner Services may also offer incorporated services such as meals or transport.

If on 30 September 2021, or if on the date the service first joined Core Funding, the Partner Services offered an incorporated service as part of their offer, they must keep providing this service or decrease their fees.

If a Partner Service would like to remove the below incorporated service, they must reduce their fees by a specified amount

• Meals – Fees must reduce by 10%
• Snacks – Fees must reduce by 5%
• Transport – Fees must reduce by the cost of the transport.

If a Partner Service would like to introduce a new service and charge for it such as meals, they may do so. However, this service must be genuinely optional to the parents/guardians.

Withdrawals

Core Funding is optional “opt-in” scheme.

If a provider chooses to not sign up to Core Funding or withdraw from the scheme Core Funding, they, as private businesses, can operate outside the scheme, and are not bound by the scheme’s conditions such as the fee management conditions.

If a Partner Services wishes to withdraw from the Core Funding Programme, they can do so by submitting a Service Request on the Early Years Hive outlining the withdrawal date and the reason for the withdrawal.

A Partner Service may re-apply after a withdrawal; however, they cannot increase their Base Rate on the new application.

Fee Increase Assessment (FIA)

In August 2024 the Fee Increase Assessment process opened, whereby Core Funding Partner Services who were charging fees below the county average were eligible to apply to increase their fees.

This process was introduced to ensure that services who had fees which may not have been sustainable were given the opportunity to apply for a fee increase. This process closed for applications on 29 November 2024.

The Department issued a letter to Partner Services who were approved for a fee increase. This letter included the new maximum fee which can be charged by the service, and the date this can take place from. The service must show this letter to parents/guardians before any fee increase takes place.

More details on this can be found on the Fee Increase Assessment page.