1. Can I claim TFC (20%) and NICSS (15%)?
Yes, as long as you’re eligible and receiving Tax-Free childcare, your provider registers with NICSS and your child is below primary school age - you’ll be able to claim both subsidies.
2. What about parents of school aged children?
We proposed options for all parents eligible for TFC, with children aged 0-12. Due to limited finances, the Education Minister agreed with the Executive a subsidy for pre P1 age only. While this is a win for parents most likely to leave the workforce with younger children, we know that parents of school aged children facing wraparound costs continues to be in crisis and we will continue to lobby for the extension of these interim interventions.
3. My child attends private childcare on a part time basis - can I still use the scheme?
Yes! As long as you and your child meets the eligibility criteria and your provider is registered for the NICSS you can use the scheme for any amount of paid hours of registered childcare.
4. My child isn’t starting nursery yet, can I apply at a later date?
Yes, the August cut off date is for payments in September, however you can make new applications to NICSS on an ongoing basis if your child starts with a new provider between September ‘24 and March ‘25. You’ll need to register for TFC and NICSS.
5. Why couldn’t the NI Executive just use the TFC scheme already in place and raise the rate?
In an ideal world, this would be the solution. Over the years, campaigners and politicians have asked for the rate to be raised - the rate is set by Westminster, and they have continually said no. There are also issues around GDPR and data sharing.
Therefore, in order to spend some of the £25 million allocated for early years and childcare by the NI Executive as agreed in May - they had to quickly come up with a solution locally to get the money into the pockets of parents. In short, it was either delivering via a scheme like NICSS - or nothing.
6. Why is it only running from September 2024 to March 2025?
The Executive returned in February and the Budget for childcare/NICSS was announced in May. The Department of Education (DE) and EY have been working in June/July to set up the scheme and are providing training/set up in August to launch in September.
Due to the nature of budgets in NI - there Northern Ireland Executive had provided funding for the scheme up to the end of March 2025. A decision on its extension will be taken based on evaluation evidence for the period September 2024 – March 2025 and budget availability. We are hopeful it will be extended.
7. My provider doesn’t want to register - what can I do?
So far, 811 providers have signed up for the scheme, while some others have chosen not to participate yet. We would recommend providers speak to Early Years (EY) at nicssprovider@early-years.org and make an informed decision. There are incentives to join including up to £1,400 for registering and an ongoing monthly payment per child. EY are also working with providers to ensure they are paid on the same day payment would have been received by the parent. They’re currently running training sessions on how it all works.
We know with anything new there will be concerns and remain hopeful that this will be a scheme that works for all.
8. Our provider's rates are rising.
We know parents are concerned about fee rises absorbing the 15% subsidy. Fee rises happen, typically on an annual basis but we know parents have seen 1, 2 or even 3 fee rises in the last 12 months. We know providers face difficult decisions when it comes to bills rising, and hope the payments from NICSS for administering the scheme will help.
We know that the DE are doing some data collection on fees to inform a future strategy and longer term intervention for both parents and providers.
While this scheme won’t solve everything and there is still a lot of work to do to help all parents in this crisis, we hope that it will bring much relief to many parents in the short term.
9. What about the struggling providers?
In May, the DE also announced a targeted support scheme for childcare providers.
Although there’s further detail to come - the announcement means that struggling providers will have support to prevent closures. We all know providers are a key part of our family infrastructure and losing them is devastating. While this will benefit providers in crisis, it doesn’t fix the rising bills, staffing/recruitment crisis, low staff wages and accessibility of childcare that a long term strategy will need to address.
Providers are the backbone of the economy, an extension of our families and work hard in a difficult sector. The NI childcare strategy must support both parents and providers in a considered and meaningful way.
10. Who are Melted Parents?
We’ve had an influx of new followers - Welcome! Melted Parents was founded in March 2023 by 2 mothers feeling melted by the childcare crisis, we quickly gained a small team of skilled parents who deliver the work you see today. Since then, we’ve spent almost 18 months meeting with politicians, lobbying, empowering parents politically, raising awareness via media and attending/hosting events to raise the profile of the economic and societal affects of this crisis. We all have our own children and careers, Melted Parents is entirely voluntary and usually done after bed time or during our lunch hour!
To read more about our part in the NICSS, please click here.
11. Where can I find more information?
Department of Education: www.education-ni.gov.uk/publications/frequently-asked-questions-early-learning-and-childcare-measures-2024-25
Early Years - the administers of the NI Childcare Subsidy Scheme: www.early-years.org/nicss
We will be here to help share up to date information in digestible formats for parents and will be working with Early Years in the coming weeks to test and feedback on the system from a parent perspective.