Donegal County Childcare Committee (DCCC) are encouraging parents to check out their entitlements for childcare supports at a new website www.affordablechildcare.ie. From September 2017, parents of 70,000 children all over Ireland will qualify for enhanced childcare supports.
The government launched a new information campaign to inform parents of what supports they could receive and this includes a dedicated website (www.affordablechildcare.ie).
According to Dr. Katherine Zappone, Minister of Children and Youth Affairs, “This information campaign has been created to help families access new and more affordable childcare packages”.
Available childcare supports have been boosted significantly by €19m in additional investment bringing the total annual investment in childcare to €466.5 million.
These childcare supports include:
- A new non-means tested universal subsidy of up to €80 per month for all children aged between six months and three years in full-time registered childcare.
- Increases of up to 50% in targeted childcare subsidies for children up to age 15.
These subsidies, which will subsidise the cost of full-time registered childcare for families by up to €145 per week, will be provided through existing schemes, the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) and Training and Employment Childcare (TEC) Schemes.
Minister Zappone states “I am confident that these enhanced childcare supports will have a meaningful impact for recipient families, particularly for those on very low incomes. I am also aware that delivering these enhanced childcare supports is only possible because of the commitment and co-operation of more than 4,000 childcare providers throughout the country”.
These are some of the first steps that have been put in place to make childcare more affordable for families all over Ireland. The Minister acknowledges that “changing the most expensive childcare system in the world into the best” was never going to be an easy task that would happen in one budget. Rather, it is a work in progress which will need further investment.
If YOU have any queries on your entitlements, contact DCCC at 91-23442 or email info@donegalchildcare.com
Visit: www.donegalchildcare.com
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