2021-22 Programme Readiness

The first stage of Programme Readiness 2021-22 for ECCE, NCS and CCSP Saver programmes will be available for services tomorrow 28th May, 2021.

Please note that all important Programme Readiness dates will be added to the Early Years Hive announcement calendar page for your benefit.

The Primary Authorised User (PAU) for each service must complete the following tasks for their service:

Confirm Organisation details
Confirm Service provider details
Confirm PAU
Confirm Portal users
Confirm Bank account (ECCE and NCS only)
Confirm TUSLA registration*
Create a 2021/22 Service calendar
Create a 2021/22 Fees list
Activate the Funding Agreement**

*An Approved Provider who provides both early learning and care and school age childcare must have a valid Tusla registration for both service types.

*For NCS and ECCE, services are required to create their 2021/22 service calendar and fees list before they can activate the NCS 2021 funding agreement.

Please see below for more information and guidance on these readiness tasks for each programme.

Please also see a link to the slides for the training webinar on the enhancements for this year’s programme readiness here and the recorded version of the webinar here.

ECCE

The programme rules for ECCE 2021/22 can be found here.

ECCE is administered on the Early Years Hive portal and all Programme Readiness tasks must be completed on the Hive. Please see the below guides available in the Help & Support section of the Hive for guidance:

Once you complete the above tasks, you are now ready to activate the funding agreement for ECCE 2021/22.The funding agreement is available under the Programmes tab. You can find a guide and a training video on activating an ECCE funding agreement in the Help & Support section of the Hive here.

Service Providers must be on-boarded on the Hive in order to complete these readiness tasks. If you are new to Hive and looking to on-board your service, please see the on-boarding page of Hive for more information.

NCS

The current Policy Guidelines for NCS can be found here.

NCS is administered on the Early Years Hive portal and all Programme Readiness tasks must be completed on the Hive. Please see the below guides available in the Help & Support section of the Hive for guidance:

Once you complete the above tasks, you are now ready to activate the funding agreement for NCS 2021/22. The funding agreement is available under the Programmes tab. You can find a guide on activating an NCS funding agreement in the Help & Support section of the Hive here.

Service Providers must be on-boarded on the Hive in order to complete these readiness tasks. If you are new to Hive and looking to on-board your service, please see the on-boarding page of Hive for more information.

CCSP Saver Programme

The programme rules for CCSP Saver Programme 2021/2022 can be found here.

CCSP Saver Programme is administered on the PIP portal and all Programme Readiness tasks must be completed on PIP. Please see the below guides available in available in PIP Resources for guidance:

The CCSP Saver Programme funding agreement can be accepted before the 2021/22 service calendar and fees list are created on PIP. However, these tasks must be completed prior to registrations starting.

The deadline for completing your fees list and service calendar for CCSP Saver Programme is 30th July if you intend on opening on the first day of the programme year (i.e. 16th August). Otherwise, these must be completed on PIP a minimum of 2 weeks prior to the service opening.

TEC Saver Programme

The TEC Saver Programme will merge with the CCSP Saver Programme, which is administered on PIP, at the end of the 2020/2021 programme year,

The remaining eligible TEC participants will be registered as CCSP (TEC Final Year) Savers under the 2021/2022 CCSP Saver Programme (16th August 2021 – 12th August 2022).

The eligibility criteria for these identified participants are the initial letters of eligibility (which were issued prior to the closure of TEC on the 14th of February 2020), and are post-dated beyond 13th August 2021 into the 2021/2022 programme year.

CCSP (TEC Final Year) Savers will automatically be approved for a Band A subsidy on their registration subject to the rules of the CCSP Saver Programme, for the remainder of the 2021/2022 programme year.

Please refer to the 2021/2022 CCSP Saver Programme rules and the associated suite of ‘How to Guides’ for further information.

For general guidance on using PIP, please see the PIP portal user guide.

Support

Should you have any queries in relation programme readiness, please contact the Early Years Provider Centre by raising a Request on Hive using the following categories: