What is the National Childcare Scheme?
1. What is the National Childcare Scheme?
The National Childcare Scheme provides subsidies to help parents meet the cost of quality Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare. It will replace all previous targeted childcare support programmes with a single, streamlined and user friendly Scheme.
Under the National Childcare Scheme, subsidies are available for families with children aged between 24 weeks and 15 years who are attending any participating Tusla registered childcare service, including any Tusla registered childminder and school age childcare services.
2. What subsidies can I apply for under the National Childcare Scheme?
There are two types of subsidies you can apply for under the National Childcare Scheme: a Universal subsidy and an Income Assessed subsidy.
3. What is a Universal subsidy?
Universal subsidies are available to all families with children between 24 weeks and 15 years of age. It is not means tested and provides €2.14 per hour for up to 45 hours per week off the cost of a Tusla registered childcare place.
4. What is an Income Assessed subsidy?
Income Assessed subsidies are available to families with children aged between 24 weeks and 15 years. They are means tested and will be calculated based on your individual circumstances. The subsidy rate will vary depending on your level of reckonable family income, your child’s age and their educational stage. It can be used towards the cost of a Tusla registered childcare place for up to a maximum of 45 hours per week.
To apply for an Income Assessed subsidy, your reckonable family income has to be less than €60,000 per year. Read more about this in Question 21.
5. What happens to the previous childcare support programmes?
The NCS was introduced to replace all of the previous legacy schemes. The NCS provides for a limited transition period for those previously benefitting from legacy schemes.
The existing “saver” arrangement was extended, to ensure that no one loses out in the initial transition to the new Scheme. Additional funding was secured to extend the savers beyond August 2020. This means that persons who were registered on the CCS or TEC schemes before they closed and who retain their eligibility will be able to remain on them indefinitely for example until they no longer require Early Learning and Care and School-Age childcare.
How do I apply for the NCS?
You can apply online for the subsidy here using a verified MyGovID. Should you need guidance, please see our online Application guide, here.
Alternatively, you can contact the Parent Support Centre on 01 906 8530 to request a postal application. Opening hours are Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.
Once your application is approved, you can use your subsidy with any participating childcare provider, including childminders, who are registered with Tusla.
Who can I contact for further advice and support?
You can find answers to the most frequently asked questions about the NCS, here. This includes information on how to use or renew your NCS award, and how to confirm claims.
If you have a question that is not covered, or you need further support, please contact the Parent Support Centre on 01 906 8530. You can also log a query on the NCS website here.
To find out more about other early learning and childcare supports, please visit: www.gov.ie/childcare
What is a Partner Service?
Core Funding is a new funding scheme which is allocated directly to providers and is designed to improve affordability, quality, inclusion and sustainability.
A “Partner Service” is an Early Learning and Care (ELC) and/or School Age Childcare (SAC) service, which has an active Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement with the Minister and has agreed to operating Fee Management and quality improvements.
Claiming additional hours during mid-term
1. Can I claim additional hours of NCS subsidy during the mid-term?
Yes – if your childcare service is open, and your child(ren) will attend more hours than usual, you can claim the hours your children will attend up to your maximum weekly hours.
For both a universal and enhanced income-assessed subsidy, the maximum is 45 hours.
If you have an income-assessed claim and you and your partner, where applicable, are not both in work or study, the maximum is 20 hours.
You can check your maximum weekly hours by going to the My Awards page of your Applicant Portal.
When mid-term is over, please ensure to revert back to the hours your child(ren) normally attend during term time. The NCS does not pay for hours you child is in school and preschool.
2. What could that mean for me?
If, for example, your child(ren) is usually in school from 9am – 2pm, and then attends after-school for 4.00 hours (Mon-Fri) – then you would normally claim 20 weekly hours under the NCS.
During mid-term, you may plan for your child to attend childcare between 9am-5pm that week – meaning you could claim 40 weekly hours under the NCS.
For more information on rules, please see the ‘How do I use my NCS award?’ section of our FAQs.
3. How do I increase my claim?
First, you should talk to your childcare provider and agree the hours that you need. Using your CHICK, your provider will register those hours, and you must confirm them on the Applicant Portal.
Please note if you do not confirm that the provider has registered the correct hours, they will not receive payment.
4. Do I have to change anything if my provider already knows my children will be attending more hours out of term?
If you already told your provider that you would be using more hours out of term, they may have included these extra hours of subsidy when first registering your child(ren). You can check this by logging into the Applicant Portal. Please note that the NCS cannot be backdated so it is important that you ensure the hours are correctly recorded.
5. Can I claim NCS if I use a different provider out of term?
Yes – if you have a valid CHICK, and your child(ren) will be attending a provider that offers NCS out of term, you can use that same CHICK at a different provider following the process outlined above.
6. Why is it important that I confirm the NCS claim?
You must check all claims for your child(ren) and confirm on the system if the details are correct.
Your early learning and childcare provider will not receive payment for your child(ren’s) attendance if the claim is not confirmed. To check that your child’s claim is confirmed, go to the My Claims page of your portal, and open the Claim Details page by clicking on the link of the child’s CHICK.
If the confirmation status for the claim weeks on this page are at status ‘confirmed’, then your children is fully registered in the early learning and childcare service and the provider is receiving funding under this claim.
If the confirmation status for the claim weeks on this page is at status ‘Requested’, then you have not confirmed the claim and your child(ren) are not fully registered in the early learning and childcare service. No payment will be issued to the provider until the child’s claim is confirmed. Please see the Claims Guide for more information on viewing and confirming claims.
What is a Sponsor Referral?
Section 14 of the Childcare Support Act 2018 allows special arrangements where a child can be referred by certain Statutory Organisations for an NCS subsidy where childcare is needed on child welfare, child protection, family support or other specified grounds. There are strict criteria applicable for a referral to be made
See also chapter 14 of the NCS Policy Guidelines.
