Affordable childcare scheme ‘may not be ready by deadline’

The Government's new affordable childcare scheme may not be ready by its September 2018 deadline, Minister for Children Katherine Zappone has said.

Under the scheme, which was announced in April, universal subsidies of up to €1,040 per year are to be made available for each child aged between six months and three years.

In addition, targeted subsidies of up to €7,500 per annum per child will be delivered to those families in most need.

The intention of the scheme is to open up jobs, training and education for parents who want “to lift their families out of poverty”. Registration for the scheme will go live from August 21st.

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However, on Wednesday, Ms Zappone told the Oireachtas committee on youth affairs that while she was determined "to drive the implementation of the new system", it was not possible to guarantee a start-up date for the scheme at this stage.

Ms Zappone also said no decision had been made about whether the acquisition of the affordable childcare grants would be counted as income for those applying for the family income supplement.

Project update

In an update on the project, Ms Zappone told the committee that the development of specifications for the information technology that will support the scheme was ongoing and a project board was meeting every three weeks to oversee the rollout of the childcare measures.

She said work on the drafting of the necessary legislation was currently in progress and the project board was waiting for advice from the Department of Social Protection before making any decision on the family income supplement issue.

“It is anticipated that a draft Bill will be brought to Government by the end of quarter three, with a view to enactment in the autumn,” she said.

Ms Zappone said the development of the scheme’s information technology would then be addressed through a small tendering competition, and the system would be fully tested. Remaining policy issues would also be resolved.

However, she said that “the project board has advised me that they are not in a position, at this point in time, to guarantee a timeline for delivery of the affordable childcare scheme”.

Committee member and Labour TD Jan O'Sullivan said the Minister was saying that the affordable childcare scheme may not be ready by September 2018.

“I think people are possibly not aware of that,” she said.