Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 November 2024
386. Deputy Colm Brophy asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the estimated cost of increasing funding to the core funding scheme by 10%; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45863/24]
View answerCore Funding is a grant to Early Learning and Care (ELC) and/or School Age Childcare (SAC) providers towards their operating costs. The majority of Core Funding is distributed based on a service's capacity - the opening hours, opening weeks and the age group of children for whom services are provided as well as number of places available.
The introduction of Core Funding in 2022 brought a significant increase in investment for the sector, with €259 million of funding paid directly to services in year 1 of the scheme, of which €210.8 million was entirely new funding.
One of the key objectives of Core Funding is to support the sector as a whole with the introduction of direct supply-side funding, in addition to the ECCE programme and the NCS, to create a more stable and sustainable financial environment.
This funding, which increased by 11% (to €287 million) in year 2, increased again by another 15% in year 3 (to €331 million). A 10% increase to the current programme year costs of €331.04 million would be €33.104m.
The current funding allocation facilitates the following changes from 2 September:
The Base Rates for all age groups are increasing with larger increases in funding for places offered to children under the age of three. All providers currently signed up to Core Funding will receive a higher payment going forward to support their day-to-day costs.
The flat rate for services registered on the Tusla Early Years Register as sessional-only is increasing from €4,075 to €5,000. This will strengthen supports to sessional-only services, who typically operate for shorter hours per week and fewer weeks per year.
The minimum Base Rate allocation is increasing from €8,150 to €14,000. This is the minimum amount of funding a centre-based service will receive through their Base Rate. This ensures a minimum guaranteed income for services. This increase supports for smaller services and services operating in rural areas, who may be prone to fluctuations in demand.
Core Funding makes a significant additional contribution to services’ income, allowing them to better absorb increased costs such as staffing and energy costs.
Core Funding is set to rise to a minimum of €350.64 million in programme year 4 (September 2025 – August 2026), before additional funding ring-fenced to support the outcomes of further Employment Regulation Order (EROs) agreed by an independent Joint Labour Committees (JLC) is included. The cost of increasing this allocation by 10% would be €35.064 m.
The current proposed additional funding to support the outcomes of the JLC process is worth €45 million in year 4. Increasing this additional element of the funding by 10% would cost €4.5 million.
