EYES Update 13 May 2020

Despite COVID-19 (coronavirus), Early Childhood Ireland’s Early Years Employer Service (EYES) is here to support you and can be contacted Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm, by phone on (01) 405 7103 or by email on eyes@earlychildhoodireland.ie. The EYES team is here to help with a range of issues related to the running of an early years and school aged service, including your questions on COVID-19 (coronavirus). If you can’t get us, please leave a message with your name and phone number and someone will call you back when they are available.

Temporary Childcare Scheme for Essential Health Workers

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs has announced awaited details of the scheme to provide childcare for essential health workers during the COVID-19 emergency. Under the new scheme, participating Early Learning and Care and School Aged Childcare services and their staff will provide home based childcare to essential health workers.

The scheme is being facilitated through the childcare committees, who will be handling registration into the scheme and the ‘matching’ with those in need of childcare. The scheme will provide up to 45 hours of childcare per week for each healthcare worker’s family. Normally one childcare worker will support each family. The DCYA will maintain a list of essential healthcare workers who are eligible to avail of the scheme.

The scheme is being mostly funded by the DCYA, who will pay a weekly rate of €841.95 per participating family to Service Providers based on a 45-hour week. Each family will be asked to make a co-payment of €90 per week, directly to the service provider, as a contribution to the cost. The overall payment to the service, therefore, will be €931.95 per family per week. This sum is intended to cover all costs of provision.

It is open to services also to offer part-time childcare. Part-time places will be funded for 22.5 hours per week, and the Department will pay a weekly rate of €420.98. For part-time childcare, families will be asked to make a co-payment of €45 per week.

The DCYA are asking all services to consider participating in the scheme. If you have any queries, concerns or feedback on this scheme, and how to participate, please contact the EYES team. The Childcare Committees will be handling all registrations to the scheme.

Phase 2 of the Wage Subsidy Childcare Scheme

Phase 2 of the TWSCS went live on Monday, 11 May. This phase comprises an application form which will be available to complete and submit on the Early Years Hive. Pobal have indicated that services must have an account set up on the Hive and will need to use their username and password to log in and access the form. Invitation links have been sent to the PAU of any service who has not previously registered on the Early Years Hive but has accepted the terms and conditions of the Funding Agreement. Service providers do not need to complete all readiness steps or activate an NCS contract in order to submit this application form.

The PAU will be required to complete a number of questions for each employee per childcare service (or facility, in Pobal terms), including information on their pre-COVID-19 Average Revenue Net Weekly Pay (ARNWP).

All services need to complete phase 2 as it is a condition of the TWSCS Funding Agreement. The deadline for completing the form is 1 July. A step-by-step application guide for completing the form will be issued via the PIP portal.

You can find the most recent FAQ for the Revenue TWSS here, the DCYA TWSCS FAQs here here and the TWSCS How To Guide here.

Do you have a question for the Early Years Employer Service team?

Please submit your question below and see it featured in upcoming EYES updates in Early Times Weekly.

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