Advice for Providers

NICSS | Advice for Providers | Advice for Parents & Child Registration

The Northern Ireland Childcare Subsidy Scheme (NICSS) is a Department of Education initiative designed to reduce the childcare costs of eligible working parents by 15% for all qualifying children. The overarching aim of this scheme is to help working parents with the affordability of childcare costs.

The Northern Ireland Executive has agreed that the subsidy scheme will target working parents who are eligible for Tax Free Childcare (TFC) and have children who have not yet started primary school. Starting from 1st September 2024[1], any parent receiving TFC, for a child who has not yet enrolled in primary school will be eligible to participate in the scheme, provided their childcare provider is signed up with HMRC as a TFC provider.

[1] The Executive had provided funding for the scheme up to the end of March 2025. A decision on its extension will be taken based on evaluation evidence for the period September 2024 – March 2025 and budget availability.

Providers FAQ

Next Steps for Providers

Step 1 – Pre-register your interest from FSNI email

Family Support Northern Ireland (FSNI) have issued email invitations to registered childcare providers with a link where you can pre-register to take part in the scheme.

If you haven’t already, please respond to the email from FSNI to pre-register your interest in participating in the subsidy scheme. This email was sent on 23rd July. If you can’t locate the email, please check your spam/Junk folders.

Only those providers who pre-register will be able to participate.

If you are having difficulty with the pre-registration process, please email us at:

nicssprovider@early-years.org

We need the support of all registered TFC providers to ensure eligible parents can benefit from the scheme.

Once you have pre-registered you will receive a link from our secure online platform powered by SmartSimple, here you will be able to complete your profile and access our training programme. A dedicated team will provide support throughout the registration and monthly claim process.

This training programme will support you to undertake the following 3 key actions:

Complete your registration on our portal so you can offer the subsidy to eligible children who attend your setting.
Set Up and Implement some amendments to your normal invoicing processes.
Claim monthly on our portal.

You will only be able to access more information once you have completed pre-registration. This will ensure that you are ready to apply the subsidy from 1st September 2024.