2866. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether she intends to review the operation of the Graduate Lead Educator Premium as part of the next review of Core Funding to ensure that graduate qualified educators are appropriately recognised and rewarded for their qualifications; and if she will make a statement on the matter [60509/26]

Pay is one of a number of challenges impacting the early learning and care and school-age childcare workforce. The level of pay for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners does not reflect the value of their work for children, families, society and the economy.

Although the Government is the primary funder of the sector, it is not the employer and cannot directly set wages or conditions for any staff in the sector.

The Joint Labour Committee is the formal mechanism established by which employer and employee representatives can negotiate minimum pay rates, which are set down in Employment Regulation Orders, and is independent in its functions.

The Graduate Lead Educator Premium, which pays out a rate of €4.44 per graduate-led hour, supports the employment of graduate staff. The premium is paid for every hour that an Early Learning and Care (ELC) or combined ELC/School Age Childcare (SAC) session is led by a graduate Lead Educator.

In the fourth year of Core Funding, the cost of supporting the Graduate Lead Educator Premium is anticipated to amount to c. €47.5 million – which accounted for almost 12% of the overall year 4 Core Funding allocation.

These allocations are underpinned by the graduate staff in lead educator roles in a given service and are paid directly to the Partner Service as part of their overall Core Funding grant allocation. It is at the discretion of the Partner Service as to how their Core Funding grant is utilised, provided the purpose conforms to the approved areas of expenditure as set out in the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement.

In addition, the increased allocation secured in Budget 2026 includes up to a maximum of €45 million to facilitate improved pay for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners through enhancement of the Employment Regulation Orders in Year 5 of the scheme. Costs related to Graduate Lead Educators will be included in this allocation, which will be released once new Employment Regulation Orders are established.

Since the Core Funding scheme was introduced, its effectiveness has been subject to ongoing assessment, which has facilitated the iterative evolution of this scheme. The introduction of Core Funding in 2022 brought a significant increase in investment for the sector, with €259m of funding paid directly to services in year 1 of the scheme, of which €210.8m was entirely new funding. Core Funding has seen consistently increased State investment to the sector year on year and is set in the upcoming programme year to be worth over €480 million. This is an increase of over 86% since the scheme began in September 2022.

The annual changes to the allocation model and in the conditions attached to the funding has ensured the Scheme remains responsive, balancing the needs of providers while seeking also to meet a range of other objectives. Among these objectives is ensuring taxpayers’ money is being used in a way that sustains services while not excessively increasing their private profit.

The Department will explore further changes based on the operation of year 5 of the Scheme as well as stakeholder input and income and cost data from providers.

The Department will continue to engage with the sector and continue to develop the scheme so that it can continue to see the high uptake levels it has seen this year, and indeed since it was launched in 2022.

I recognise that supporting the workforce is essential to ensuring quality in early learning and childcare. This funding will help to make further progress on improving pay while maintaining the strong partnership between the State and providers.