Thousands more families to receive more subsidies in childcare scheme

By Cate McCurry, Press Association

Changes to the income thresholds for the National Childcare Scheme will see thousands of families receiving more subsidies.

From today, the income thresholds used to calculate Income Assessed subsidies will increase along with the Multiple Child Discount.

The changes will see the families of 47,000 children receive an increase in their childcare subsidies.

The National Childcare Scheme provides two types of financial support for families.

All eligible families may apply for a universal subsidy, regardless of family income, which is worth up to €96.30 per week, for a maximum of 45 weekly hours.

Alternatively, families may qualify for a higher income-assessed subsidy which varies depending on family circumstances, including income level and number of children under the age of 15.

The income thresholds used to calculate the income-assessed subsidies will increase.

As part of the changes, the lower income threshold has increased from €26,000 to €34,000, so families now earning €34,000 or less will be able to qualify for the maximum subsidy rate.

A family with a reckonable income of €34,000 will now receive a rate of €5.10 per hour for a child aged between 24-52 weeks. Prior to these changes, that same family would have received €4.40 per hour.

The upper income threshold will increase from €60,000 to €68,000, meaning that families now earning up to €68,000 will be able to avail of a higher income assessed rate.

By increasing the income-assessed thresholds and Multiple Child Discount, more families will benefit from higher levels of financial support under the National Childcare Scheme.

For example, a family with a reckonable income of €60,000 will now receive a rate of €2.84 per hour for a child aged between 24-52 weeks, compared to €2.14 per hour previously.

As a result of these changes, all existing income assessed subsidy recipients with an income between €26,000 and €60,000 will see an increase in their subsidy rate.

The Multiple Child Discount will also increase, meaning that a lower income is used to assess subsidy entitlements, enabling many families to receive a higher hourly subsidy rate.

The Multiple Child Discount will increase from €4,300 to €5,500 for families with two children and from €8,600 to €11,000 for families with three or more children.

Minister for Children Norma Foley said: “These increases in childcare subsidies under the National Childcare Scheme represent another important step forwards in making early learning and childcare more affordable for families.

“By increasing the income-assessed thresholds and Multiple Child Discount, more families will benefit from higher levels of financial support under the National Childcare Scheme.”

In total, more than €528 million will be paid to families this year under the National Childcare Scheme, out of total state investment of almost €1.5 billion in the early learning and childcare sector.