ECCE Scheme Questions

randombar

Hi All,

Just looking for some advice on this one.

Dropped our 3 year old down to the pre school today and was told Monday wasn't her day it was Tuesdays and Wednesdays (First we heard of it!)

She was going two days a week last term but since she's eligible for the free now we'd like to up it to five days.

I'm just wondering if we had to could we split the free child care days across two places? How do the payments work, is it something like medical cards or what?

Thanks,
Gary

forumuser

Were Tuesday and Wednesday her days last year? Did you tell the preschool that you wanted her to go 5 days this year or did you just assume they'd have a place for her?

neris

you cant split ecce times up. the pre school will have a set time each day over the period the scheme runs for. just coz your child is eligible age wise doesnt mean that the pre school have to give you 5 days however most will prefer to have the same children all the time for the 3 hours each day. its nothing to do with medical cards or social welfare.

randombar

Oh I told them a few times about the 5 days, might have fallen between the cracks though.

I know it's nothing to do with medical cards but I was just using it as a similar system, i.e. gp's get a set rate for x amount of medical cards on their books, by the sounds of things it's sounds like something similar for the pre school.

So I cant send her to one pre school two days and another three days? What happens so if they can only take her for two days, does that mean they are getting the ECCE for her for the five days and she's only getting two days of schooling?

Moonbeam

Have you filled out the ECCE forms or are that expecting you to pay?

Here is the parents guide to the ECCE scheme - http://www.dcya.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?fn=/documents/childcare/ECCE_guideforparents.htm

neris

If you seems for 2 days the previous school only get paid for 2 days. They can't claim for days your not registered to attend

randombar

Thanks for the update, that makes sense. Just wanted to check.

pwurple

The new scheme is a pain in the backside for the providers. Our child won't get it at all first year, even though she is eligible for 3rd term, and will only get 3 days a week of the second year, despite being in that creche since she was 3 months old, and with an older sibling. They are prioritising full time children for the first year, as it's easier to manage. (Which I understand), and then those children get first refusal for the second year again. A birthday lottery has been created.

Such a mess up of an implementation, we're actually worse off with this 'extra free year' than we were on the original scheme. Sigh.

Neyite

Mine is a full time place and the creche do a level pay thing throughout the year including summer, makes it so much easier. Though the actual term starts on Monday so I would have had to pay extra for Thursday and Friday.

neris

pwurple wrote: »

The new scheme is a pain in the backside for the providers. Our child won't get it at all first year, even though she is eligible for 3rd term, and will only get 3 days a week of the second year, despite being in that creche since she was 3 months old, and with an older sibling. They are prioritising full time children for the first year, as it's easier to manage. (Which I understand), and then those children get first refusal for the second year again. A birthday lottery has been created.

Such a mess up of an implementation, we're actually worse off with this 'extra free year' than we were on the original scheme. Sigh.

why dont they just give you 5 days a week? your 3 creche days and then let your child attend for the 3 hours the 2 days they arent in creche?

From the providers side this has been shoe horned in by pen pushers in an office who were told to create something to shut parents up about childcare costs. Most pre schools/creches didnt know what was going on till late spring/early summer. The providers need to work all costs/charges out on a weekly basis to suite the dept of children & also pobal who administer the scheme even though most providers charge on a monthly basis. The take up on the inital scheme is so high that most pre schools are booked full by September. The whole pre school/childcare thing is a joke. Private people and business are providing a service thats more of a social service then a business but have to charge business prices as there is no way they can run their service without any incentives/tax breaks/rate reductions etc without passing the costs on to parents.

cyning

The playschool my 4 year old is attending is full for next September and almost full for the following September (2018!)... I have my 2 year old booked in for both years since April. There is no way in hell you would get in for a Jan or April admission date.

randombar

neris wrote: »

why dont they just give you 5 days a week? your 3 creche days and then let your child attend for the 3 hours the 2 days they arent in creche?

From the providers side this has been shoe horned in by pen pushers in an office who were told to create something to shut parents up about childcare costs. Most pre schools/creches didnt know what was going on till late spring/early summer. The providers need to work all costs/charges out on a weekly basis to suite the dept of children & also pobal who administer the scheme even though most providers charge on a monthly basis. The take up on the inital scheme is so high that most pre schools are booked full by September. The whole pre school/childcare thing is a joke. Private people and business are providing a service thats more of a social service then a business but have to charge business prices as there is no way they can run their service without any incentives/tax breaks/rate reductions etc without passing the costs on to parents.

It's a resource issue, they don't have room for any more kids etc. unfortunately. A right disaster. 2 days it is I'd say because I can't split the scheme across two school from what I can make out.

John Mason

the only way to split across 2 services is if there a joint custody agreement in place and the child lives in between 2 separate areas.

salmocab

Its hard to get in now because with the second ECCE year the creches have extra numbers applying but not extra staff or space. The state doesn't really pay enough for it to be worthwhile but the creches can't not do it as they might lose the full time kids who are ultimately the ones who make the business worthwhile.

randombar

John Mason wrote: »

the only way to split across 2 services is if there a joint custody agreement in place and the child lives in between 2 separate areas.

Not an option for us so it's the two days. In fairness they did explain it themselves that the government have announced how great they are at providing an extra year but not where the places will come from.