We've responded to Northern Ireland's Draft Childcare Strategy. Here's what we said - and why it matters.
For the first time ever, Northern Ireland has a Draft Early Learning and Childcare Strategy. That's significant. But a strategy without the right foundations won't deliver the change families need. Here's our full assessment - and how you can make your voice heard before Monday 24 March.
Click here to download our full formal response.
A first for Northern Ireland - and why that matters
Northern Ireland has been, until now, the only part of the UK and Ireland without a childcare strategy. Not a weak strategy, not an underfunded one - no strategy at all. The gap has been felt by every family who has watched fees rise year on year with no government framework to hold that reality to account.
So the publication of the Department of Education's Draft Early Learning and Childcare Strategy is, in itself, a significant step. We want to say that clearly. This is something Melted Parents NI and thousands of families across Northern Ireland have campaigned for, and we welcome the fact that it exists.
But welcoming the strategy's existence is not the same as accepting it as written. A strategy that sets expectations it cannot meet, that leaves some of the most vulnerable families out of scope, and that directs public money into an unregulated market without fee controls, risks making things worse - not better. That is what our formal response addresses.
The reality families are living right now
Before we get into the strategy itself, it is worth being clear about the context in which it will be implemented. This isn't abstract policy - it's the backdrop to decisions families are making every day about whether they can work, whether they can afford another child, and whether they can stay afloat.
Our own analysis, covering 74% of all childcare providers and drawing on data from 853 parent respondents, found that average daily rates at day nurseries increased by 24.1% between December 2023 and March 2025. That acceleration continued after the NI Childcare Subsidy Scheme launched in September 2024. In fact, our analysis indicates that 43% of the combined subsidy value available to eligible families has already been absorbed by fee increases.
This is not a recent blip. The rate of fee increase between 2021 and 2025 is 9.6 times faster than the period from 2010 to 2021. For families already excluded from subsidy support - including student parents and those in non-qualifying employment - there has been no relief at all.
"I'm a mum of 1 and today got the dreaded 15% increase. That's on top of the 15% increase we got this time last year. I work as a nurse... our bill is higher than our mortgage. Despite being in a senior position, a 2nd child is a luxury we simply can't afford." - A Melted Parents NI supporter
The impact is not felt equally. Families with children with additional needs face compounding barriers that the current system does almost nothing to address.
"There are virtually no childcare provisions for SEN children... You are offered direct payments after about one year of asking — I was awarded two hours per week, which I was advised was not allowed for childcare while I work... Your only option is to survive to primary school." - A Melted Parents NI supporter, parent of a child with additional needs
What we welcome in the strategy
We want to be clear that our response is not simply a list of criticisms. There are genuine commitments in this strategy worth acknowledging.
The ambition to expand pre-school education to 22.5 hours per week for all children in their pre-school year is strongly supported. The commitment to improving access for children with additional needs is welcome. The acknowledgement that fees have risen sharply - and that this is a problem - at least establishes a shared understanding of the challenge.
A strategy that names the problem is a starting point. Our concern is that the mechanisms proposed to address it are not strong enough to deliver the change families have been waiting for.
What concerns us - the three issues that must be addressed
1. The maths of the 50% promise doesn't add up without fee controls
The strategy's headline commitment is to meet 50% of childcare costs. That sounds significant. But the detail matters enormously.
Using the Department's own figures - an average daily rate of £57 and fee inflation of 12% per year - we modelled what a family paying £14,820 per year in 2026 would actually face by 2032. The answer is a bill of over £29,000 - an increase of 94% in what parents pay out of pocket, despite the subsidy tripling over the same period.
The NICSS subsidy cap increases only in line with general inflation — approximately 2% per year. Childcare fees are rising at approximately 12% per year. That gap compounds every year. A 50% subsidy subject to a fixed cap is not, in practice, a true 50% contribution for families whose fees exceed that cap. Without binding mechanisms to control price growth, the affordability commitment is mathematically undeliverable.
For families already paying £80 per day - which is increasingly common - the projected annual bill by 2032 reaches over £41,000, with parents paying over £32,000 of that themselves.
2. The "working families" framing leaves too many people behind
Throughout the strategy, affordability support is repeatedly framed around "eligible working families." That framing has real consequences for who the strategy treats as its intended beneficiaries.
The Northern Ireland Childcare Subsidy Scheme currently excludes student parents, families on Universal Credit, and stay-at-home parents who do not meet a narrow employment test. These are not edge cases - they are often the families facing the most acute childcare pressures and with the least financial resilience.
The single parent completing a degree, relying on food banks, unable to access the subsidy because she doesn't have a qualifying job yet - her story is in our formal response. Her situation is not unusual. The strategy as written does not adequately account for her.
We are calling explicitly for NICSS eligibility to be extended to cover families on Universal Credit, students in further and higher education, and stay-at-home parents.
3. Public money without fee regulation risks becoming private profit
The strategy proposes significant public investment in the childcare sector. We support that investment in principle. But directing substantial public subsidy into a largely unregulated, predominantly for-profit market - without mechanisms to control pricing or diversify provision - carries serious risks.
England provides the cautionary tale. When the expanded 30-hour childcare offer launched without fee caps or adequate supply-side controls, private equity-backed chains absorbed the subsidy, targeted wealthier areas, and created care deserts in the most deprived communities. Not-for-profit provision declined by 19% between 2018 and 2024. Staff wages stayed low. Investors profited. The communities that needed provision most were left behind.
The Republic of Ireland offers a better model. In 2024, they introduced maximum fee caps for providers in receipt of Core Funding, set at €295 per week for full-day care, alongside increased state funding and a fee freeze requirement. Ninety-two percent of eligible providers signed up. This demonstrates that fee regulation linked to public subsidy is operationally achievable - and that providers will participate.
Melted Parents NI has also received reports that raise legitimate questions about pricing conduct in the sector - including an account that a childcare worker disclosed their setting had contacted local providers to establish what fee increase they could collectively charge. We cannot verify this. But it is consistent with the pattern of coordinated, simultaneous fee increases that many parents have reported across Northern Ireland, and it underlines why the Department cannot treat fee-setting as a matter entirely outside its concern.
What we're calling for
Across the three themes of the strategy - supporting children in their early years, supporting families with costs, and supporting the sector and workforce - our recommendations centre on the same core ask: the strategy must address structural causes, not just symptoms.
- Maintain disadvantage-based pre-school admissions criteria until universal provision is fully and consistently achieved across all of Northern Ireland
- Introduce price-capping mechanisms to prevent public subsidy from being absorbed by provider fee increases - using the Republic of Ireland's 2024 model as a practical framework
- Ensure the NICSS subsidy cap increases in line with actual fee levels, so the 50% commitment is meaningful in practice
- Broaden NICSS eligibility to cover families on Universal Credit, students in further and higher education, and stay-at-home parents
- Actively invest in community-based and not-for-profit provision as a means of diversifying the market and moderating cost growth
- Fully fund inclusive provision for children with additional needs, with ring-fenced funding that does not place pressure on providers or families
- Introduce clear guidance on additional charges - including notice periods, sick day fees and late collection penalties - so parents can predict and plan their real costs
- Set out clearly which Departments beyond Education carry responsibility for childcare, and how cross-departmental commitments will be resourced
⏰ Closes Monday 24 March 2026
Now it's your turn. Add your voice.
The consultation is open to everyone - not just policy experts, not just organisations. Every response from a parent, a carer, a family member counts. The Department of Education needs to hear directly from the people this strategy will affect.
Closes Monday 24 March 2026
Not sure what to say? Here are the points that matter most.
You don't need to be a policy expert. Use your own experience and your own words - that's exactly what the Department needs to hear. Here are the key messages from our response to get you started:
- Fee controls must be part of the strategy. Without a mechanism to cap fee increases, public subsidy will be absorbed by rising costs. Ask the Department to introduce price regulation linked to public funding, in line with what the Republic of Ireland introduced in 2024.
- The 50% promise needs to be real. When the subsidy cap only rises at 2% per year but fees rise at 12%, the headline figure becomes meaningless for many families. Ask the Department to ensure the subsidy cap keeps pace with actual fee inflation.
- Don't leave families behind. If you're a student parent, on Universal Credit, or a stay-at-home parent - or if you know someone who is - tell the Department that "working families" framing is too narrow. Childcare need is not determined by employment status alone.
- Protect access for disadvantaged children. The strategy proposes removing social disadvantage criteria from pre-school admissions before universal provision is in place. Tell the Department this risks widening inequality, not reducing it.
Read our full response here
Everything above is a summary. Our formal response sets out detailed analysis, evidence and specific questions to the Department across all three themes of the strategy. If you'd like to read it in full - or use it as a reference when writing your own response you can download it here.