Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 June 2024
656. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the total amount spent on the Universal National Childcare Scheme subsidy; and the total amount spent on the means-tested National Childcare Scheme subsidy in 2023 and the profile for 2024. [25307/24]
View answerThe National Childcare Scheme (NCS) is a national scheme that provides financial support to help families with their early learning and childcare costs. There are two types of subsidies available:
A universal subsidy which is not means tested and provides €1.40 per hour towards the cost of a registered childcare place for a maximum of 45 hours per week. This rate will increase to €2.14 from September.
An income assessed subsidy which is means tested and will be calculated based on a family’s individual circumstances. The level of subsidy is determined by the family’s reckonable income (i.e. gross income minus tax and other deductibles and minus any applicable multiple child discount). The income-related subsidy is payable for qualifying families where the family’s annual reckonable income is up to a maximum of €60,000.
It may be of interest to note that Sponsorship is available for certain vulnerable cohorts of children.
The table below shows the total value of successful claims (i.e. eligible for payment) broken down by application type referring to the calendar years of 2023 and of 2024 to date.
|
Award |
2023 |
2024 YTD |
|
Income Assessed (family income up to € 60,000) |
€ 203,426,930 |
€89,641791 |
|
Universal Subsidy |
€118,066,991 |
€60,157,774 |
|
Sponsorship |
€19,696,988 |
€9,835,406 |
• Successful claims are claims that became eligible for payment following submission of attendance returns by providers and parental confirmation (where applicable).
• 2024 year to date figures include claims up to week starting 27/05/2024.
The total amount allocated for the NCS in 2024 is €369 million in Budget 2024.
