2992. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her Department is considering the introduction of a dedicated apprenticeship pathway for the early years sector, similar to earn-while-you-learn models operating in other sectors, to address ongoing recruitment and retention difficulties in childcare services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [62141/26]

I believe the roles of the early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners are valuable ones, and they play an important part in supporting children's development, learning, and care.

Many early learning and care and school-age childcare services report difficulties in staff recruitment and retention, reflecting the broader pressures of the current tight labour market.

Despite recruitment and retention difficulties, the number of early years educators and school-age practitioners working directly with children has increased substantially over the past decade, rising by approximately 63% since the 2015/16 programme year.

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 government has ringfenced up to €45 million in Core Funding for Programme Year 2025/2026 to support employers to meet the costs of increasing rates of pay due to new EROs. This is distributed to providers through the Staff Funding Additional Contribution (SFAC) grant.

For programme Year 5, September 2026/2027, an additional funding allocation, up to €45 million has been secured to support providers in meeting the costs of possible further increases in wages which may be negotiated by the independent Joint Labour Committee.

Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Development Plan 2022-2028 includes commitments to support recruitment and retention of staff for the Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare workforce.

Aligned to the Programme for Government commitment to introduce an ‘Earn and Learn’ apprenticeship model enabling staff in this sector to gain qualifications and advance their careers, Pillar 4 of Nurturing Skills includes an action to examine the development of a range of entry routes into the sector, including apprenticeships or other work-based learning, and access programmes in further education and higher education.

Research on alternative entry routes was received earlier this year. The Department is reviewing it, with a view to using that research to inform next steps.

While Nurturing Skills commits to examine alternative entry-routes, the development of an apprenticeship would rely on the formulation of proposals by the sector and would require approval by the National Apprenticeship Office. The consideration and potential introduction of an apprenticeship model in the sector is therefore not solely a policy matter for the Department but actually with the sector itself.

The Department, over the last 12 months, has had ongoing communications with the National Apprenticeship Office in relation to an early years sector apprenticeship and were made aware of two sector consortia having submitted initial proposals.

The Department are continuing to participate in conversations between the sector and the National Apprenticeship office as the process continues to progress.