COVID-19: Supports for the childcare sector

On 24 March 2020, the Irish Government announced that they will be introducing a number of measures to support the childcare sector in response to COVID-19. The Government intend to re-purpose funds that were already allocated to the childcare sector to support these measures.

Measures
The measures announced include:

• Revenue will reimburse childcare employers by 70% of their pre COVID-19 staff costs
• In addition, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs will reimburse childcare employers by 30% of their pre COVID-19 staff costs
• The Department of Children and Youth Affairs will pay a retention top-up designed to retain staff in the sector
• The Department of Children and Youth Affairs will fund childcare providers with a proportion of staff costs during the closure period to assist with their ongoing costs where needed

Duration
These are emergency measures that will apply for a period of up to 12 weeks.

Conditions
The implementation of these measures will require childcare providers to sign a new COVID-19 Emergency Agreement which includes them agreeing to the following conditions:

• not charging parents for childcare fees from March onwards
• assure parents that their children’s places are as secure as they can be post COVID-19
• agree to pay staff at pre COVID-19 levels, with the help of the funding from the Revenue and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs
• take steps to rehire staff that have been already laid off on the same terms as above
• staff will use this time for Continuous Professional Development (CPD) and other professional activities. Employers will use this time to catch up on administrative tasks and familiarise themselves further with the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) and any other resources, including new resources which will be developed in the coming weeks
• give consent to Revenue to provide evidence of staff costs to allow the Department of Children and Youth Affairs to process payments to providers

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs will roll out these measures as quickly as possible.