The HSE has issued a revised version of the public health guidance for childcare services.
The changes relate to:
Face coverings: A reminder that staff in ELC and SAC services must wear face coverings when it is not possible to keep a 2m distance from other adults. Staff are also advised to wear a face covering when in close proximity to children if doing so does not pose a barrier to early learning and care. The guidance specifically notes that it is expected that use of face coverings will generally be practical when attending to school-age children. This aligns with the approach in schools. (page 11)
Ventilation: The Guidance emphasises the importance of ventilation (see pages 10, 11, 14 and 16).
Other: The Guidance also includes the most up to date information on spread of the virus (p.4), sampling and testing (p.5), vaccine roll out (p.6), periods of self-isolation and restricted movements (p.18) and a reminder to staff to minimise contacts inside and outside of work (p.21).
The revised guidance can be found here: Link to Hpsc guidance

New provisions under the Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2021 include:

An additional three weeks of paid Parents’ Leave and Benefit to each parent to be taken in the first two years after the birth or adoptive placement of a child.
All adopting couples will be able to choose which parent may avail of adoptive leave, including male same-sex couples who were previously precluded due to an anomaly in legislation.
Paternity Leave and Benefit will be made available to the parent who is not availing of adoptive leave.
Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, T.D., today welcomed the passing of all stages of the Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2021.

Once the Bill is enacted, working parents will be entitled to an additional three weeks of paid Parent’s Leave for each parent, and the period in which the leave can be taken will be extended to the first two years after the birth or adoptive placement of a child. The extension will allow parents to spend time with their child in the earliest years. It is non-transferrable between parents to ensure that both parents are encouraged and supported in taking time out from work to spend time with their child.

Adoptive parents will also be provided with greater flexibility to decide which parent will avail of adoptive leave and benefit, with paternity leave and benefit available to the parent not availing of adoptive leave. Fulfilling an important commitment in the Programme for Government, the Bill addresses access to adoptive leave and benefit by male same-sex couples, a provision that is of great significance for couples seeking to adopt.

The additional 3 weeks of parent’s leave is available to employees and the self-employed in respect of new babies born or children adopted after 1 November 2019. The associated benefit will be paid at the same rate as maternity, paternity and adoptive benefits.

Enactment of the Bill will take place shortly after the Bill is signed into law by the President.

Highlighting the Government’s continued commitment to supporting working parents and promoting greater work-life balance, Minister O’Gorman said:

“We want to support parents in taking time away from work and having quality time with their children during those precious first two years, so I’m delighted to see this legislation pass through the Oireachtas.

“COVID-19 has had a serious impact across society and working parents, especially those who have had children during the pandemic, often without the support of family and friends. The extension to parent’s leave and benefit is intended to provide them with an additional period of leave to spend with their child.

“An important facet of parent’s leave is to encourage the sharing of childcare and I hope that this additional period of leave will support and encourage fathers in taking a more prominent role in the care of their young child.”

The Bill also provides for an increase in the number of ordinary members of the Board of the Child and Family Agency, from seven members to nine, in order to support the State in meeting its obligations to the safety, protection, wellbeing and resilience of children, families and communities in Ireland.

During the progress of the Bill through the Oireachtas, Government amendments were added in relation to the operation of personal injury guidelines adopted by the Judicial Council.

ENDS

The Early Years Hive and the National Childcare Scheme website will be unavailable today at 5pm for a maximum of 3 hours due to scheduled maintenance.
After this time, you will need to refresh your web browser to access the portal again.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your cooperation.

The Department has provided significant financial supports to the Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Age Childcare (SAC) sector throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This included the Temporary Wage Subsidy Childcare Scheme (TWSCS), which supported services by providing funding to top-up staff wages and contribute towards overhead costs. To ensure that funding continued to flow, a number of preliminary payments were made, which in some cases resulted in overpayments.
The overpayment amount will be viewable on your PIP portal in due course. In the meantime, if you have any concerns/issues regarding your overpayment, you can contact the Early Years Provider Centre directly or alternatively raise a service request on the HIVE and select the following options:
• Request type: TWSCS
• Request type detail: TWSCS
• Programme Request: Covid 19 Supports
The recoupment of these overpayments commenced in November 2020 and there was an option to extend the recoupment into 2021 with final payments made by end March 2021. However, in light of new Level 5 restrictions in the post-Christmas period, a decision was made to delay any outstanding recoupments. This decision was made to avoid placing any undue administrative burden on services and financial challenges at a time where there were already additional pressures and uncertainty.
The Department remains committed to its public duty of ensuring that all tax payer money is properly accounted for, and for this reason recoupment will now resume and take place from April until June 2021. Services that have overpayments are now given advance notice to allow them to make arrangements to manage their cashflow in the coming weeks. Recoupment plans already agreed will resume in April and will be completed by the end of June. For all other services, you may either repay Pobal directly or we will spread the recoupment across payments due from April to June in agreement with Pobal.
ELC and SAC services continue to be supported through a number of funding packages such as the extension of the enhanced EWSS until the end of June, and more recently the DCEDIY–led COVID Operating Support Payment (COSP) to ensure that services’ ongoing sustainability is maintained.
If for any reason a service does have concerns about sustainability arising from recoupment of TWSCS overpayments, they are advised to contact Pobal. If this arrangement is not viable for the business and an alternative arrangement is needed, this can be arranged. Hence, if you have any concerns or issues, please raise a service Request on the HIVE (see steps above)
Pobal will be available to support any providers who face sustainability issues with resumption of TWSCS recoupment and will work with you to manage re-payments.
The enhanced EWSS, COSP and other Government measures have been designed to support providers to the greatest extent possible. If your service is currently experiencing sustainability issues even after these measures, the Department has asked us to advise you of a new Sustainability Fund in place – COVID19 Impacts Support Fund. This will assist providers (not-for-profit and for-profit) that require further financial assistance in addition to current support measures available to remain viable. The Department encourages providers in such circumstances to contact their CCC to seek advice on applying for this funding which is available from 1 March.
As stated previously, Pobal recognises the pressure that services have been under and is committed to continuing to work with the Department and the sector to support all providers through these exceptionally difficult times.

Covid-19 Support Helpline for ELC and SAC – 1800 940341 available from 10am – 1pm & 1.30pm – 4pm this weekend.