The full introduction of the government’s affordable childcare scheme has been delayed again and may not come into place until September 2019, three years after it was first announced.
Katherine Zappone, the children’s minister, said issues around the necessary IT systems had caused problems and that it was now not possible to give a “definitive time frame” for its launch.
She said the government was provisionally hoping that the new scheme would be up and running by next summer in time for the September term.
A universal, non-means tested subsidy of up to €1,040 a year for children up to three years old was brought in as part of the budget in 2017, along with support for families on lower incomes of up to €7,500 a year for children up to 15 years of age. However a new system, which would allow parents to place their details into an online portal and be told immediately how they will receive, has been delayed again. The technology was a central part of the reform package around childcare in 2016.
A spokesman for Ms Zappone said that the government was delivering support manually in the meantime.
Advertisement
Explaining the delay, the minister said yesterday: “We submitted our plans for the development of the main IT system for the affordable childcare scheme to the scrutiny of a peer review group at the office of the government chief information officer.
“That office has now approved the request for tender stage, and although it is great news that this has been approved, we have experienced some delays in this stage.”
She added that while her department was working to get the scheme off the ground, “it has not been possible to set out a definitive timeline for the scheme’s launch at this time. This is because the timeline is dependent on the ICT development.”
She said the department would publish the new tender for the IT systems in the coming days, which is understood to be 100 pages long. The chosen company will probably begin work this July.
Ms Zappone said that the new system must be “rigorously tested”, but added: “the vast majority of those eligible for the new scheme are already receiving comparable supports”.
Advertisement
The affordable childcare scheme, which has cost millions of euros, has experienced complications from its inception after issues emerged around data-sharing and privacy.
Yesterday Ms Zappone warned that legislation must be passed quickly to stop any further delays. She expects the Dáil to begin discussing the new legislation at the end of this month.
“The bill is an essential element in the development of the affordable childcare scheme, ensuring that the scheme operates on a robust, rigorous and transparent statutory footing from the outset,” she said.
Ms Zappone said that the bill would enable data sharing, which would create a fast user-friendly experience.
She gave an update yesterday on aspects of the childcare scheme launched to date. She said that on the universal subsidy, of the 33,000 children estimated to be eligible, almost 31,000 have registered to date.
Advertisement
“This means that the families of almost 31,000 children are now gaining a financial benefit on par with what they will receive when the full affordable childcare scheme launches.”
On the targeted measures, she said that nearly 35,000 children were benefiting across a range of schemes, receiving as much as €145 a child a week.
The minister also said that she had commissioned a review by the company Crowe Howarth into costs incurred by the delivery of childcare.