Free childcare expansion scheme at risk, warn preschools

Preschools have warned that most are not in a position to roll out Government plans to extend free childcare from next year because they cannot afford to expand their services.

At present, every child in Ireland is entitled to a free preschool year – or 38 weeks – from the age of three. From September next year, the Coalition plans to expand the scheme to ensure children can remain in preschool until they start primary school.

The €45 million extension is estimated to be worth an average of €1,500 for the parents of young children.

However, Early Childhood Ireland (ECI), the main representative body for preschools, will release details of a new survey later this week showing only 11 per cent of services plan to expand to cater for the additional numbers. The survey of about 400 preschool services has found 62 per cent of providers do not plan to expand, while 27 per cent are unsure.

Fears

One of the biggest obstacles cited by preschools is the rolling nature of the expanded scheme which means children can join at three different points during the year: September, January and April. Many reported they would not be in a position to guarantee places for children joining in January or April, as in many cases it would require keeping a place on hold.

ECI chief executive Teresa Heeney said there were growing fears the system would not be able to accommodate an additional 60,000 children under the scheme.  Various different estimates suggest there are anythjing between 10,000 and 27,000 spare places in preschools at present.

"The free year has been a success and research shows that preschoolers positively benefit from the experience. But many services face real uncertainty and barriers to expansion, especially when they are operating with tiny margins of as low as 2 per cent," Ms Heeney said.

She said the introduction of rolling enrolment is likely to lead to a “pinch period” in January and April 2017.

While children will be able to enter preschool in January or April as well as September under the new arrangement, she said places would not be left vacant in September in the expectation of other children signing up later in the school year.

A spokesman for the Minister for Children Dr James Reilly said, however, he was confident that providers will realise the required expansion in capacity by the time it is required.

He said Early Childhood Ireland's survey was limited by the fact that it was just a small sub-set of the estimated 4,300 free pre-school providers in the country. In addition, he said, it was a self-selecting sample in which those who face the greatest challenges may be more likely to respond.

The spokesman added that it was clear from the responses that many respondents were not aware that capitation rates are due to be restored next year.

One area of its activity will be to ensure all providers are aware of the benefits of expanding, along with access to €1.5 million worth of training to upskill preschool staff.