Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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To be eligible for Core Funding for the 2023/2024 programme year, it is necessary for all Partner Services to agree to the Core Funding Fee Management terms and conditions as laid out in the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement, and the fee management guidelines. These terms and conditions require services not to increase the fees charged to parents above what was charged on 30 September 2021.

For the third programme year, my Department has introduced a process whereby services whose fees are below their county average can apply for an assessment to increase their fees to an approved level.

This is an application-based process whereby a Partner Service, as a private business offering a service for the Public Good, will undergo an assessment to determine the need to increase fees. Where the need is identified, permission will be granted to increase fees to a level determined by the Department.

This measure must balance the need of parents/guardians for stability with their early learning and childcare costs and the need for providers to operate viable businesses in order to continue providing this public good service for their community.

Any approved fee increases will not go above the increased NCS subsidy that a parent would be receiving for the full hours offered within the fee. The maximum fee increase for any session will be €33.30

This was to ensure that the impact on parents of approved fee increases are controlled as much as possible for example, parents on the universal subsidy using the full hours of their session will not see any further out of pocket costs.

For example, an offering of 45 or more hours a week can be approved for an increase of no more than €33.30 a week. This was to ensure that the impact on parents of approved fee increases is controlled as much as possible.

Partner Services who increase their fees without approval through this process will be in breach of the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement.

Where an individual identifies a case of a potential breach of Core Funding fee rules by a service, they may seek to have this examined and a conclusion reached through the Core Funding Fee Review process.

The Department would encourage any parent with concerns or questions about fees to contact their local CCC for support and guidance or to initiate a Core Funding Fee Review. The first point of contact for parents and providers in the Core Funding fee review process is their local CCC. Contact details for CCCs may be found on www.myccc.ie.