Donegal County Childcare Committee Ltd.

Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) Scheme

What is the NCIP Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) Scheme?

The Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) Scheme  is available under the Office for the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs (OMCYA) to support community-based childcare services to enable them to provide quality childcare services at reduced rates to parents in receipt of state benefits.

Background to the introduction of the CCS Scheme?

The Community Childcare Subvention(CCS) Scheme previously referred to as the Community Childcare Subvention Scheme (CCSS) 2008-2010 is the successor to the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme (EOCP) which was in effect from 2000-2006. Under the EOCP, community childcare services who could demonstrate a focus on disadvantage and/or support for training and job creation were awarded funding to support their staffing costs. Under this scheme they were required to operate a tiered fee structure to reduce payments for certain groups of parents.

At the end of the EOCP a value for money review was carried out which recommended that resources are targeted more effectively to parents with children attending community childcare services in receipt of state benefits.

Following the Budget in 2006, the NCIP was introduced and confirmed that the EOCP staffing scheme would be succeeded by a scheme with a strong focus on disadvantage.  In 2008 €153m was allocated towards the 3 year scheme known as the Community Childcare Subvention Scheme.

A review was again carried out in 2010 resulting in a revised CCS Scheme coming into effect in September 2010.

What does the childcare service have to do to access this funding?

In addition to providing a quality service, services are required to administer the tiered fee system, with maximum and minimum fees set at appropriate levels. By doing this, childcare services will be subsidised to enable reduced fees to be charged to certain groups of parents. All monies received under the subvention scheme will go directly to the childcare service.

Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Scheme

Where children attending community childcare services are not in their pre-school year or are too young to access the ECCE Scheme, eligible parents will be able to access the CCS Scheme in participating community childcare settings. This will not affect the child’s entitlement to a free pre-school place in the subsequent year.

*Parents in receipt of job seekers benefit/assistance qualify for subvention on a part-time basis only i.e. no more than 5 hours per day over 5 days or 2.5 full days per week.