ECCE grants and National Childcare Scheme

IMPORTANT : ACTION REQUIRED TO RETAIN YOUR GOVERNMENT CHILDCARE GRANTS

Dear Parents,

As you may know, the Irish Government provides financial support to all parents of preschool children attending a Tusla registered creche such as Giraffe Childcare. The level of support you receive depends on your child’s age and your family’s income. Once granted, the subsidy is paid directly to the childcare provider, who in turn deducts the amount off your monthly fees.

Over the last few years, several different programmes have been introduced to administer childcare subsidies (e.g. ECCE, TEC, CCS, CCSP, CCSPU). All of these are being discontinued and/or rolled onto the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) as of 24 August 2020.

Most parents are currently availing of fee subsidies through the ECCE & NCS programmes.

In order to avoid interruption of your monthly fee subsidies, you will need to take action.

What you need to do now depends on when your child was born.

 If your child was born in 2017 or 2018:

He/she will qualify for the ECCE Programme from September 2021. The average ECCE subsidy for a child attending full time is €205 per month (€64.50 per week for 38 weeks, split over 12 months).

You need to provide us with the following information so that we can register your child on the ECCE Programme:

• Child’s Full name (correct spelling as per their PPS record)
• Child’s Date of birth
• Child’s PPS Number
• Giraffe Centre they attend
• Parent Name

Please click here to submit this information.

We strongly recommend that you also apply for the NCS scheme (see instructions below). Depending on your child’s exact date of birth you may be entitled to additional subsidies under the NCS, on top of your ECCE subsidy.

If your child was born in 2019, 2020 or 2021:

He/she will qualify for either the Universal or Income-Assessed subsidy under the National Childcare Scheme (NCS). The funding available for a child attending full time ranges from €20 to €230 per week.

You will need to apply for one of these subsidies and help us complete your child’s registration on the NCS portal (called the HIVE). The process is as follows:

• Apply for one of these NCS subsidies by logging on to https://ncs.gov.ie/en/.
• Once the application is approved, you will receive an NCS award via email. This will contain a unique code for your child, called CHICK code.
• Please submit the following information on our online form:
• Child’s Full name
• Child’s Date of birth
• CHICK Code
• Giraffe Centre your child attends
• With the above information, we will locate your child on the NCS portal and enter the number of hours they attend with us. You will receive an email notification with details.
• You need to verify this information on the NCS Portal in order to complete the process.

For guidance on which subsidy to apply for go to https://www.ncs.gov.ie/en/childcare-subsidy-calculator-input/