Creches want €60m in aid for this year
Health guidelines will impose severe limit on numbers of children and push up costs
CHILDCARE providers want an extra €60m from the Government to fund the reopening of the sector for the rest of the year while operating under public health guidelines that are likely to severely limit the number of children they can look after.
New guidance on infection prevention and control in creches and care facilities has been issued to the sector ahead of plans to reopen from June 29 for the children of essential workers and those returning to work.
Children and childminders will be grouped into so-called ‘play-pods’ that will limit their interactions with others. While the new guidance has been welcomed by the sector, childcare providers want more clarity on what funding will be available to allow creches to reopen and remain financially viable while they are operating at reduced capacity.
Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone is facing calls to divert as much as €30m that has been set aside for at-home childcare for healthcare workers to creches and childcare facilities so they can prepare to reopen and find additional funding from Government to cover increased costs.
As well as limits on numbers, many providers will have to adapt their facilities in order to comply with the new guidelines.
Early Childhood Ireland, which has almost 3,500 childcare members, estimates there will be a funding gap of around €60m that the Government needs to cover until at least the end of the year. Its director of policy, Frances Byrne, said of the funding gap if the sector needs to operate at a reduced level: “You are probably looking at €60m.
“We hope that the Government will make a realistic offer around funding so at least people can plan,” she said.
“That would be hugely welcome and ideal. It’s not huge money. It’s not propaganda to say that no parent is going back to work full time at the end of the pandemic unless there are creches there.”
Seas Suas, which represents private providers, estimates that only one-infive children will return to childcare and that it will take between six and 12 months for this situation to improve with many parents continuing to work from home. “That collapse in demand —in the context of a wider national economic downturn —makes reopening and staying opening the core issue. Guidelines, while welcome, do not pay the bills,” Regina Bushell, the chair of Seas Suas, said.
“Mortgages, salaries, utilities and more must be paid for in order to operate. That is before a single euro is spent on Covid-19-related safety requirements. Capital grant support makes little or no difference because that is not where the crisis resides.”
Ms Bushell believes the majority of the €4.2m per week fund announced by Ms Zappone for at-home childcare for healthcare workers for the period between May 8 and June 29 is unspent. This leaves around €30m that can be redirected to care providers up until the end of the year, she argued.
The organisation also wants Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe to be appointed to the childcare taskforce. “This is a financial crisis and needs the active involvement of the minister who oversees financials,” Ms Bushell said.
Ms Zappone’s spokesperson said the minister and the Department of Children are carrying out extensive work on the funding model for childcare providers in conjunction with the minister for finance.
“This guidance has been made available to all childcare providers and childminders, who will now be asked to apply the guidance to their setting and see how much capacity they can offer, in accordance with the guidelines,” the spokesperson said.
“The information provided by the sector following receipt of the guidance will inform the extensive work done to date on a funding model by the department.
“The department is preparing a range of additional guidance and resources to assist the sector to prepare for reopening. These will start to issue in the coming days and continue over the four remaining weeks before opening.”
A source close to the minister said: “Until we had that health advice we couldn’t progress the funding model. There is huge work done in relation to funding and what the sector needs but we can’t finalise the plan until we know what’s needed. They [childcare providers] need to come back to us and tell us how much it will cost.”
Mr Donohoe declined to comment yesterday.
The guidelines announced last Friday were drawn up by the HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) and will see children grouped into ‘play-pods’, a model that restricts interactions between closed groups of children and adults as an alternative to social distancing, which is not possible with young children.
The size of each pod will be in line with childcare regulations. For example, children under the age of one can be in a group of six with two supervising adults.
There will be staggered arrival times for each pod and the use of communal facilities will also be staggered to avoid crowding.
Pods will share the same toys and items like jigsaws, puzzles and other toys that children are inclined to put in their mouths must be capable of being washed and disinfected.
‘We hope the Government will make a realistic offer on funding’