3077. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her Department is considering additional supports for families with school aged children in the context of Budget 2027 given the current NCS rate for school aged children is €2.14 has not increased in a number of years; and if her Department has proposals to increase the rate for school aged children and those availing of afterschool services. [63173/26]

Many families use the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) to help reduce the cost of school age childcare. The NCS is designed to be flexible and responsive to families’ needs, offering subsidies based on an hourly rate, with a maximum number of hours per week depending on family circumstances. This allows for subsidised sessional, part-time, or full-time care arrangements, depending on what best suits the needs of working parents.

The NCS has undergone a number of enhancements in recent years to further improve affordability for parents. These include the extension of the universal subsidy to all children under 15 years of age in August 2022. In September 2024, the Universal subsidy was increased to €2.14 per hour and is now worth a minimum of €96.30 per week for 45 hours. At the same time, changes to the childminder Tusla registration requirements allowed families using Tusla registered childminders to also benefit from NCS subsidies. Further enhancements to the NCS income-assessed subsidy were introduced in September 2026. These include increasing the lower income threshold from €26,000 to €34,000 and the upper threshold from €60,000 to €68,000, improving affordability for up to 47,000 children from lower-income families. The increased thresholds will see the maximum income-assessed subsidy for school-age childcare rise to €3.75 per hour for applicants with an income of €34,000 or below,.

Shaping the Future: the Early Years Action Plan Phase 1 was published on 17 December 2025. Shaping the Future sets out measures to achieve key Programme for Government commitments on the affordability, quality, and accessibility of early learning and childcare (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC). The Action Plan adopts a phased approach that enables action to be taken in 2026 while allowing adequate time for a broad public consultation on longer-term actions.

Phase 2 actions, which will be undertaken from 2027 through to the end of 2029, will be published in Q4 2026. Before Phase 2 actions can be specified in line with the Programme for Government commitment, a broad public consultation process is currently underway.

Additionally, an independent evaluation of the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) commenced in March 2026. This evaluation aims to assess the performance of the NCS to date and its operation within the wider early learning and childcare funding and policy environment. The evaluation will examine whether the NCS, as part of the wider funding model, is making high-quality early learning and childcare more accessible and affordable, particularly for families in the lowest income groups and the most disadvantaged households. It will also identify any improvements that could be made to enhance accessibility and affordability and to ensure that the NCS is working for as many families as possible. The evaluation will include consultation and engagement with parents, educators, practitioners, providers and representative organisations. Any changes to the NCS will be carefully considered in light of the findings of this evaluation.

Regarding Budget 2027, work is currently underway preparing forecasted budgetary requirements for 2027 for childcare. Engagement with the Department of Public Expenditure Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation will be ongoing over the coming months.