Early Years welcomes Childcare Recovery Support Fund announcement
Early Years – the organisation for young children welcomes the announcement by Education Minister Peter Weir of the Childcare Recovery Support Fund as a further vital source of support to the early childhood care and education sectors in Northern Ireland.
This Childcare Recovery Support Fund is for all forms of registered provision that are open, or will reopen, during July and August 2020. The objectives of the Childcare Recovery Support Fund are:
To support the reopening of childcare provision in July and August 2020, to ensure childcare is available as far as possible for parents who need it, to support economic recovery and return to work in line with the Executive Recovery Plan.
To provide a level of financial support to childcare providers to assist with the additional costs of operating within Department of Health COVID-19 guidance and to support their financial viability in the reopening phase, recognising that many providers may not be able to operate at full capacity.
To maximise the number of settings supported to reopen through the development of a simple, easy to use application process.
To process payments promptly to facilitate the reopening of settings as quickly as possible.
During the announcement Minister Weir said: “Registered childcare providers offer safe and nurturing environments for children and we must do all we can to ensure these providers are supported to open and operate within current public health advice.
My Department has developed proposals to assist the childcare sector as they begin to re-open in line with Executive economic recovery planning. This includes support for registered day care and school age settings, childminders and playgroups."
Commenting on the announced fund, Francis Loye, Chair of the Early Years Daycare Forum, said "We welcome this vital financial support for the childcare sector announced by Minister Weir. As a sector,we are committed to supporting children, families and the economy recover from the impacts of the pandemic."
The fund will launch for applications on Monday 27 July 2020.
The fund will be administered by Early Years, on behalf of the Department of Education.
Commenting further on the fund, Pauline Walmsley, Early Years Chief Executive Officer, outlined "Early Years has created a user friendly online application system to assist all registered early childhood care and education providers with applying to the Childcare Recovery Support Fund.
An individualised link to the applicable streams of funding will be sent to all eligible providers on Monday 27 July 2020.
We urge all relevant providers to apply for available financial support through this fund as soon as possible after the fund goes live."
Further information is available via the Department of Education Childcare Recovery Support Fund announcement web page.