What is the National Childcare Scheme?
The National Childcare Scheme (legally known as the Affordable Childcare Scheme) is a national scheme of financial support for parents towards the cost of their childcare. The Scheme includes two types of subsidies towards the cost of quality childcare:
1) a universal subsidy is payable for children between the ages of 24 weeks and 36 months who are using childcare services with an approved childcare service provider. It is also payable for a child who is older than 36 months but does not yet qualify for the Early Childhood Care and Education programme. The universal subsidy is not means-tested and
is available to all qualifying families of any income level.
2) an income-related subsidy is payable for children from 24 weeks to 15 years of age who are using childcare services with an approved childcare service provider. The level of subsidy is
determined by the family’s reckonable income (i.e. gross income minus tax and other deductibles and minus any applicable multiple child discount- see chapter 4). The incomerelated subsidy is payable for qualifying families where the family’s annual reckonable income is up to a maximum of €60,000.
To download a copy of the NCS Guidelines please click on the link: NCS-Policy-Guidelines-2
From 2 September 2024, the minimum rate for the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) subsidies will increase from €1.40 to €2.14. The increase, which was introduced by Minister Roderic O’Gorman as part of Budget 2024 measures, means that if parents are in receipt of a subsidy which is less than the maximum, they will receive a higher subsidy towards their childcare fees.
There will be no change to the sponsor rate for children aged 0-52 weeks.
The remaining sponsor rates will have the max rate increased to €5.30 as demonstrated below.
| Current Max Rate | New Max Rate | |
| 1 to 2 years | €5.00 | €5.30 |
| 3+ years | €4.54 | €5.30 |
| School Age | €4.31 | €5.30 |
Awards will be recalculated with this new rate and updated accordingly.
The Early Years Hive is the dedicated early years programme portal for service providers. If you are new to the Hive, please see information below regarding the on-boarding section. Otherwise, sign in at https://earlyyearshive.ncs.gov.ie/ using your registered email address and password. If you need assistance, check out the Resources section of the Hive. You can also call the Early Years Provider Centre (EYPC) Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm at 01 511 7222.
Starting the on-boarding Proceess: Before you can start using the Early Years Hive, you are required go through a quick on-boarding process. Click here for more information On-Boarding Process – Service Provider Portal (ncs.gov.ie)
NCS sponsor details.
Part of the National Childcare Scheme details five statutory bodies which can refer a child for a fully funded childcare place. This means that the parent(s)/carer(s) of a sponsored child will pay no fees to the childcare provider and no income assessment is required. For more information on sponsorship please click on this link https://earlyyearshive.ncs.gov.ie/how-to-guides/how-to-guides-ncs/sponsors/
Click here to download a guide on viewing CHICK uplifts on Hive.
Click here to download a Quick Guide on activating a funding agreement
Monitoring and tracking attendance
In line with Tusla requirements, you must maintain daily attendance records for each child, but it is not required to log this information on the Early Years Hive. However, these details do form the basis for the weekly reporting returns made by providers on the Hive.
The accompanying guidelines will assist providers in using the attendance tracker.
Absence:
You must log an absence lasting 4 or more consecutive weeks on the Early Years Hive as part of your weekly returns. Once you have returned an absence of 4 consecutive weeks, the system will automatically issue a warning notification to both you and the parent stating that the subsidy for the child will be suspended if the absence continues You are not required to log an absence of less than 4 consecutive weeks. Please see the Returns section of Help & Support for more information on returning under-attendance on the Early Years Hive.
Leavers
When a child leaves your service, you must end-date the claim. Only when the claim is end-dated can the child be registered with a new service. Payments for a child will cease the day after the child leaves the service (the day following the registered end date). You will receive confirmation via the Early Years Hive stating that the subsidy is not payable beyond the date that the child leaves the service. Parents should give providers 4 weeks’ notice of a departure from a service. When no notice of departure is given by a parent, you may claim up to 4 weeks subsidy in lieu of notice (you cannot claim further payment after this 4-week allowance period). You must then end date the claim 4 weeks in the future and flag the child as a ‘leaver no notice’ when completing your weekly return.
Programme readiness
- NCS Service Calendar
- NCS Service Calendar: Adding a second opening and closing time
- NCS Funding Agreement Activation
NCS registrations
NCS returns
- NCS Returns: Normal Week
- NCS Returns: Reporting a 4 Week Absence
- NCS Returns: Ongoing Absence 8 Week Under Attendance
- NCS Returns: 12 Week Under Attendance
- NCS Returns: Absence ends and under attendance ends
Quick Guides
- Completing Programme Applications
- Adding a New PAU
- Adding a Service Provider Portal User
- Creating a Service Calendar
- Creating a Fees List
- Adding a Bank Account
- Adding a Tulsa Certificate
- Registering a Child
- Amending a Registration
- How to Run Returns
- How to create a Request on Hive
Service Provider-Parent Agreement
Exemption Forms
Appeals
TCAN Template
Force Majeure
The current Policy Guidelines for NCS can be found here.
Compliance
Accessing the NCS Compliance Report on Hive
- NCS Compliance Checklist for Approved Providers 2024-25
- NCS Compliance Guide for Approved Providers 2024-25
- NCS Post Inspection Rectification Actions for Approved Providers 2024-25
- DCEDIY Compliance Framework Guidance
- DCEDIY Compliance Framework Guidance (Irish)
- DCEDIY Compliance Framework FAQs
- DCEDIY Compliance Framework FAQs (Irish)
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.
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.
