Some parents sending their children back to crèches after months of enforced closures are being asked to pay up to 10 per cent more for childcare from September, with providers blaming higher costs on the pandemic.
One condition of a State-funded financial support package for childcare providers would be that they did not raise parental fees from pre-Covid-19 levels for the duration of the temporary funding. However that funding is due to come to an end on August 23rd.
The €75m package introduced at the end of June included grants to help ease the cost of hiring cleaning staff, buying hygiene products and purchasing outdoor play equipment and shelters. The temporary wage subsidy scheme will also continue to provide up to 85 per cent of staff costs until the end of August.
While some crèches have been telling parents that their increases are in line with increases in everyday running costs including higher insurance premiums others are directly linking the increases to changes that have been required as a result of Covid-19 regulations and a requirement to recruit more staff.
One mother with a child in a south Dublin crèche told The Irish Times the fees for care five days a week were climbing by €100 to almost €1,300 a month from September.
Another parent with a child in a crèche on Dublin’s northside said the costs were climbing by 5 per cent for infants and toddlers and by 10 per cent for after school care.
The increases come after a pledge from the Government to examine setting a cap on childcare fees parents pay regardless of their income.
A potential cap on creche fees will be considered based on similar caps in other European countries, with a “policy, legal and economic analysis” to be completed into the proposal this year
Under the Programme for Government agreed between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party a new agency called Childcare Ireland will be set up to lead reforms in the sector.
The agency will be responsible for the development of a high quality childcare sector, and will be tasked with mapping out long-term career paths for childcare staff.
A report analysing the legal and economic ramifications of such a move is to be published later this year.
