Parents stand to save up to €1,700 a year on childcare fees in budget measure

Parents with children in childcare stand to save up to €1,700 a year in reduced fees for each child due to the additional funding allocated in the budget, according to Roderic O’Gorman.

Speaking after the headline figures had been announced on Tuesday, the Minister for Children and Equality said an 8 per cent, or €83 million, increase in the early education and childcare budget to €1.108 billion would not only provide for direct savings for parents but also allow the department to provide additional supports to providers, increase hours for children with disabilities and initiate a new scheme “inspired” by the Deis programme currently operating at primary and secondary school levels.

Where childcare and early education is concerned, the measures outlined in the budget largely take effect the following September, and so while parents will see significant savings as a result of these announcements, they will have to wait almost a year.

Mr O’Gorman said the impact, when it is felt, “will be very tangible”, stressing that it went beyond the most straightforward element, which was cuts to bills.

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“The budget will provide funding to allow for the extension of regulation and supports to childminders. Importantly, it will enable parents who use childminders to benefit from the National Childcare Scheme, also from September 2024.”

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The department expects about 500 childminders, working with up to 2,000 children, to register in the first year of eligibility, he added.

There would be additional funding for the provision of services to children with disabilities and €4.5 million for the new Equal Participation scheme, something that will specifically target families and children in disadvantaged circumstances, he said. Supports for families with children in international protection are to be published in the coming weeks.

The funding given directly to providers to support them with costs would grow by 15 per cent, or €44 million, next year and a portion of this money could be used to improve pay in the sector and help with the sustainability of services.

He acknowledged that capacity remains an issue in the sector with some parents still finding it hard to access services in their area, but he said he hoped capital supports would help those providers seeking to expand. In addition, work was continuing with the Department of Housing to ensure new services opened where they were provided for in the planning for new residential developments.

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Asked if some of the new money and its proposed targeting was a reaction to the recent protests by some service providers, he said it was the result of engagement with the sector as a whole.

That engagement will continue on Wednesday when the Minister is due to meet a wide range of stakeholders in the sector to outline the detail of his intended spend.

“We are pleased to hear that there will be improvements in the National Childcare Scheme for disadvantaged children, alongside fee reductions for many families. It is also welcome that the vital area of child-minding will be brought into the National Childcare Scheme,” said Teresa Heeney, chief executive of Early Childhood Ireland on Tuesday evening. “Parents will be disappointed, though, not to see those further decreases until well into next year.”