Spark says lone parents on subsidised schemes while in training may have to quit courses
Childcare costs for some of the State’s poorest families could increase under the Government’s new affordable childcare scheme, a lobby group for lone parents warns.
Spark (Single Parents Acting for the Rights of our Kids) says thousands of lone parents, currently accessing subsidised childcare schemes while in training or community employment schemes, may not be able to continue their courses as a result.
Their participation in the schemes means they can access childcare where fees are capped at between €15 and €25 per week.
These include the Community Employment Childcare (CEC) programme, targeted at parents on CE schemes, which has a set charge of €15 per week, and the Childcare Education and Training Support (CETS) programme, for qualifying parents on Solas or Education and Training Board schemes, with fees capped at up to €25 a week.
All these schemes are due to end in September 2017 when the new ‘single affordable childcare scheme’ announced last week in the Budget, begins.
The plan, brought forward by Minister for Children Katherine Zappone, will replace all existing subsidised schemes – apart from the free pre-school scheme, Early Childhood Care and Education – with universal and targeted subsidies, paid to Túsla-registered childcare providers.
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