Newsflash: Update on Affordable Childcare Scheme (ACS)

The key areas to be covered by the legislation underpinning the new Affordable Childcare Scheme (ACS) will be published on the DCYA website shortly along with updated FAQs.

The Affordable Childcare Scheme is a significant milestone for the Early Childhood Care & Education sector in Ireland. On your behalf, Early Childhood Ireland will continue to monitor and report back to members regarding developments in relation to this scheme. We are committed to working constructively with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Katherine Zappone TD, and the DCYA to ensure that the scheme, when commenced, represents a move toward a model of childcare in Ireland that can deliver: the best quality care and education for children in the most formative years of their development; viability and sustainability for both early childhood services and their staff; and access and affordability for parents to childcare facilities and services.

We are happy with the change to a 52-week funding model, something we had suggested right from the start, and we will continue to advocate on issues of outstanding concern to our members, namely the hourly subsidy and hourly fee for childcare; assumptions around parent’s access to and competency with computers/technology; administrative burden for services; requirement of providers to police absences and changes in childcare provision; and the cost model which currently does not address the issue of Terms & Conditions of the Early Years workforce.  

We support the principle of Progressive Universalism whereby ACS encompasses both universal and targeted elements that can be increased over time as additional State investment becomes available.

Early Childhood Ireland remains concerned that ACS is being rolled out before conducting and publishing an independent review of the cost of providing quality childcare in private and community settings, consistent with the principle of ongoing professionalisation of the sector, as per the Programme for Partnership Government commitment in May 2016. We want to see a commitment to an increase in the funding model in line with the findings of this review.

We commend the Affordable Childcare Scheme’s stated objectives, which are ambitious and numerous including (i) a reduction in child poverty, (ii) positive child development outcomes, (iii) labour market activation and (iv) improved quality.  This ambitious scheme must be backed up with ambitious funding to make that happen.  As always, getting the cost model right from the start is imperative to the success of the scheme for children, families, operators and the survival of the sector.  

We also welcome the amalgamation of existing targeted childcare programmes into a single, streamlined and hopefully more user-friendly scheme. It  is a missed opportunity that the two free pre-school years under the ECCE programme are not yet  incorporated into the scheme from the outset and we will continue to advocate for their inclusion.

We will continue to monitor and report back on this to members in due course and will share links to the Heads of Bill and updated FAQs on our Facebook page as soon as they become available.