PIP Portal announcement Friday 8th January

The information below details the changes under Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Funded Childcare Programmes following the announcement by Minister O’Gorman, as of Wednesday, 6 January 2021 in regards to further Level 5 restrictions and the Provider FAQ issued by the DCEDIY today. Early Learning and Care providers are advised to read the below information carefully to understand the implications for their individual service.

Sessional services offering ECCE only

• ECCE only services to close fully – payments will continue until Friday, 29 January 2021.
• ECCE calendar – no adjustment required.

‘ECCE only services’ include services which provide ECCE with no more than 30 minutes of additional of childcare paid for by parents.

Full or part-time services offering ECCE/NCS/AIM/Legacy (CCSP/TEC) Programmes

Services that remain open for essential workers and vulnerable children – current levels of funding will continue until 29 January 2021.

NCS

• Weekly attendance returns to be submitted as normal based on child attendance. In cases where a child cannot attend (due to current restrictions), weekly attendance records should be based on the week ending Sunday, 20 December 2020.
• Children in attendance should be recorded accordingly on the weekly attendance return on the Hive.
• Non-term weeks/hours (children receiving NCS and ECCE/school going children) can be used, where eligible, for children of essential workers and vulnerable children.  For further information on adding non-term hours please see Adding Non Term Hours Quick Guide .
• Please continue to maintain correct child attendance records for your service in line with Tusla Regulations and compliance.
• Note changes cannot be made to NCS calendars retrospectively.
• Any amendments to calendars will affect your budget.

Legacy (CCSP/TEC)

• Services that are closed or close over the coming weeks and do not have an approved Force Majeure application must adjust their calendar to reflect the closed period.
• Any amendments to calendars will affect your budget.
• The Saver Management Window will remain open for any changes to existing registrations.
• Please continue to maintain correct child attendance records for your service in line with Tusla Regulations and compliance.

ECCE (full or part-time services)

• In the case where a full or part-time service remains closed, no adjustments are required to be made to the ECCE calendar and Pobal will make the budget adjustment.
• Please continue to maintain correct child attendance records for your service in line with Tusla Regulations and compliance.

AIM

• AIM Level 7 – 5% of the approved contract value will be paid on 8January 2021 representing payment up to 29 January 2021.
• The AIM Level 7 application process will remain open. Applications which are currently in progress or new applications will continue to be appraised; however, application outcomes cannot be finalized until the ECCE programme has recommenced.

Force Majeure

Any service wishing to close must have an approved Force Majeure application form.  Please submit this to Pobal by attaching it to a Service Request on Hive and entering ‘Force Majeure’ in the summary heading and selecting category ‘programme request’ from the drop down menu.

• Only services that have received formal instruction to close and have an approved Force Majeure application in place can remain closed for the period of the Force Majeure.
• Non-ECCE only services remaining closed without an approved Force Majeure application must amend their calendars to reflect the closed period, changes are only required from 11 January 2021.  Any changes to calendars will affect your budgets.
• In instances where Pobal are made aware of services that have remained closed without approved Force Majeure application, contracts will be placed on hold until calendars are amended to reflect the closed period.

We understand that this is a hugely challenging time for all Early Learning and Care services. Providers can continue to contact the Early Years Provider Centre for queries relating to programme funding. However, we ask that you contact your CCC in the first instance regarding COVID-19 and service closures.