Bríd Smith warns on childcare fee breaches and 'strong-arming' parents

Minister, I want to ask you about the core funding model for childcare and how it has been applied across all providers and the number of childcare providers that participated in this scheme but subsequently raised their fees for services despite the commitment in the scheme not to do so. Has your department received any complaints on this and if so how do you deal with the service providers concerned? Are there any penalties? Please make a statement on the matter. There are more than 4,200 partner services participating in core funding and that represents 95% of all services in the state. These services must operate in line with the core funding partner service funding agreement. Regarding fees, partner services must uphold their contractual obligations regarding fee management as laid out in this agreement. In the first year, partner services must not increase the fees charged to parents from those charged in September 2021. An increased charge of any kind for an existing and unchanged service type will be in breach of core funding rules. A partner service may create a new service type but must ensure that the fee for any new service type will be calculated as not more than a proportion of the closest equivalent fee that existed on 30 September 2021. Where a partner service increases the level of service offered, a higher fee can be charged for this but that fee must be in direct proportion to the increase. For example, an increase in full day care from 40 hours to 50 hours per week represents a 25% increase in the level of service. So a higher fee could be charged for this but could not exceed more than a 25% increase than the previous fee that was again charged on 30 September 2021. Similarly, an increase in weeks from 38 week offering to a 52 week offering must be charged proportionately. Parents of children attending a partner service that have identified a potential breach regarding fee management may seek to have this examined and a conclusion reached through the core funding fee review process. As of the 25th of May, PUBL are considering five such cases where a determination is made of a breach regarding fee management. A partner service must produce evidence of remedy of that breach within 30 working days. Failure to do so may result in the termination of the core funding partner service funding agreement. I would encourage any parent that is concerned about fees to contact their local city or county childcare committee in the first instance. Thanks Minister. I do welcome the fact that you have tried to reduce the fees but we do have some of the larger providers. In the case of the parliamentary questions I have asked you and in this case Safari Childcare in Dublin 8 have brought in a model where they have said to parents that you have to avail of this service 52 weeks of the year. In other words, during the school holidays where parents do not normally pay for the after school care because there is no school, they are now being told that if you do not, your place in the next term is not secure. I think that that is really strong arming the parents into paying more money for childcare. It is still pretty shocking the level of childcare costs in this country compared to the average EU. There have been studies done on it which show that in terms of a scale across the EU we are the third highest. That is pretty shocking. We all know of systems and societies where they bring down the costs significantly in some places and do not have them at all. So I think there needs to be more than just report to PUBL attitude from your department about attempts to strong-arm parents in this manner. If you do not mind Deputy, I am not going to get too involved in specific instances you have raised because I do not know if that is in a fee review process at the moment through PUBL. It may well be, it may be one of those five, I genuinely do not know that. But there are processes there whereby parents can flag and there are significant consequences the withdrawal of the funding agreement which is very significant. In many cases that will be worth thousands if not tens of thousands of Euros to the particular service. So it is not insignificant a breach of the agreement. But you are right, childcare is still too expensive in our country. We have made significant steps, we have brought in the fee freeze for the first time ever. We have achieved a very significant increase in the NCS, National Childcare Scheme as of the 1st of January this year. Increasing the subsidy to parents, an average of 25% reduction in their out-of-pocket costs. And we look to do more in next year's budget because even though we have taken big steps, we do need to do more to continue to reduce the cost of childcare for everybody. We certainly do, and I hope that continues to be the commitment from the department. However, let me say this, it is not being rhetorical, I think it actually goes to the core of it. What is happening here is that we have a disjointed and privatised and fragmented childcare service in this country. We would not allow this to happen at primary or secondary level. But the care is a patchwork of various different types of service and capacity. Essentially to deal with the private provision of childcare in this country. Now, I recently visited my local childcare Treasury, Totts and Ballyfermes, who applied for a grant for getting the building refurbished and were initially refused. They have appealed that and hopefully they will win it. But they made the point to me, the care workers there, that we need a fully funded and properly provided for early education service that is run by the state via these carers and their providers. And they are wonderful workers, wonderful managers, but they are reliant all the time on a complex, fragmented system. And ultimately, Minister, I think this is what we have to deal with. Thank you. You are absolutely right to praise childcare professionals. And I was delighted to secure for the first time a pay agreement for them in September of last year, where 73% of childcare professionals saw a salary increase. The issue here is that our state has historically not invested in this sector. When I entered office, investment in childcare was €638 million per year. This year, it will be over €1 billion for the first time, reaching that €1 billion figure five years earlier than previous policy commitments had been set out. We need to increase public investment, but at the same time, we also need to have increased public management of the system. And that is what we have with the fee freeze. It is the first time ever we have a clear mechanism that caps the fees for parents, but also ensures that we have solid investment, so childcare services can reinvest in themselves, but also pay the childcare professionals better. And we have done a significant way in achieving those three goals. Lower fees for parents, investment for childcare providers, and better pay for staff. Thank you very much for being here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I was interested in saying that, let's keep the money coming through, I found a lot of money coming through, but you can get a lot of money coming through, how are they going to be getting rid of. Thank you. I'm so grateful for that. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Grivella and I love you, I have to thank you. We're also grateful for that. We're here. Thank you. I was grateful for you. I was grateful for that in the last time. I was a loving part-time. I am very grateful for you, that. I am loved you.