Publication
Support for Parents
From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Published on
Last updated on
Choosing the right early learning and care or school age childcare provider for your child can be a daunting task for parents. Many factors come into play. The quality of care and education in the service is paramount, whilst other factors such as cost, location and the ethos of the service are often also key considerations when choosing childcare. Your local City or County Childcare Committee (CCC) will be able to assist whether you are searching for the first time or are thinking of switching your child to a different provider.
An overview of the steps involved in finding an Early Learning and Care or School Age Childcare Provider is available here.
There are many types of early learning and child and school age childcare. Your local CCC will be able to discuss the most suitable option with you. The main types of childcare are:
Full Day Care: provides childcare for more than 5 hours per day. Services may offer a morning and/or an afternoon session. These include crèches and nurseries.
Part-Time Day Care: provides childcare for children over 3.5 hours and less than 5 hours per day.
Sessional Care (Preschool Programmes): provides childcare for one or two sessions a day with a maximum of 3.5 hours per session. These include playgroups, Naíonraí and services offering Montessori programmes, etc.
Childminder: is a person who cares for children, usually in the childminder’s own home.
Out of School/School age childcare (Refers to any service for school going children aged 4-15 years): A school age childcare service is one that provides care for school going children out of school hours. These can include breakfast clubs, after-school clubs, school holiday programmes, etc.
Drop-In Centres: Services offering day care which is used on an intermittent basis for a period of not more than two hours while a parent/guardian is availing of a service or attending an event. Such services are mainly located in shopping centres, leisure centres or other establishments as part of customer/client service.
Private service providers offer quality Early Learning and Care services and School-Age Childcare Services, which are run as private businesses.
Community service providers (not-for-profit) offer quality Early Learning and Care services and School-Age Childcare Services. They are limited companies, managed by a voluntary Board of Management
A Childminder is a self-employed person who provides childcare in their own home. Childminders may offer the Childcare Funding Programmes to parents subject to meeting certain criteria for example, being registered with Tusla as a childminder.
For information on parenting courses available in your area, please contact your local CCC office.
If you have a query or concern regarding your child’s experience of early learning and care or school age childcare your local CCC will be on hand to point you in the right direction.
Where a parent/guardian has identified a change to a Partner Service’s fee policy potentially breaching the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement, the issue may be addressed in the first instance using the Partner Service’s complaints policy. In certain cases, this step may allow for the quick resolution of the case between the Partner Service and the parent/guardian without engagement with their local CCC, the National Fee Review Team (NRFT) or the Department. Please note that this pre-fee review stage is optional.
In order for the fee review process to commence, the parent/guardian will need to reach out to their local City/County Childcare Committee (CCC). If your local CCC receives a query where a potential fee increase is raised, they can escalate it for examination through the Core Funding Fee Review Process.
Fee review guidelines can be found here: Guidelines on Fee Management