Advice for Providers

+ Q. Is income from the NICSS taxable?

Yes

+ Q. What happens if a provider is off sick and unable to provide care but has already billed in advance?

A process will be in place for the provider to amend a claim if the anticipated level of chaldcare has not been provded. Where possible, we wil not require a refund to be made, but will make an amendment to subsequent claims from that provider.

+ Q. Can a provider still apply a discount if they are on holiday but still charge a reduced fee?

Yes. The scheme is aimed at reducing parental bills so pre established holiday payment commitments are elligibe within this scheme.

+ Q. I am a registered childminder with my husband as my assistant. I have read that we can claim £22.50 for the first 5 children. We have 10 children on our books. Are we able to claim for the remainder of these children?

Yes, you can sign up, please follow directions in your FSNI email which you will have received. Parents can access information on the Early Years website https://www.early-years.org/nicss/parents

+ Q. How do I know if my setting qualifies for the subsidy scheme?

The subsidy can be offered by all registered childcare providers that are signed up to the TFC scheme and can register a child below primary school age. This includes nurseries, playgroups and childminders. It does not apply to unregistered or informal childcare arrangements.

+ Q. We are a multi service provider - do we need to attend a separate webinar for daycare and preschool?

Not at this stage as all registration webinars are not specifically targeted for an audience. After registration is complete the training sessions from the 19th are separated into Daycare, Childminders & Playgroups

+ Q. I am on holiday until after the submission date - can I still sign up when I return after the deadline? What is the deadline for entry?

5th August will be the deadline for a provider to register in time to process NICSS discounts in September. Please note that until you are registered, your parents will be unable to register their eligible children.

+ Q. I need to change my webinar date - how do I do this?

Visit - https://www.early-years.org/nicss/provider/informationsessions to book onto an alternative webinar date.

+ Q. Where can I find my Trust Registration Number?

On your childcare registration certificate from your Health & Social Care Trust - your registration number was also included in the email you received from FSNI.

+ Q. Is the information around fees visible to parents. What if we decide to change our prices?

Fees will not be made visible to parents. Participating providers must inform Early Years of changed fees/rates.

+ Q. I have a child who is being deferred for primary one so is doing an extra year at nursery, will they be eligible for this scheme

Yes, if they have been officially deffered by the Education Authority. Early Years are required to confirm defferal status.

+ Q. How to idenify a Tax-Free Childcare payment

When a parent pays you using their childcare account, the transaction will appear on your bank statement as National Savings A. This entry should also contain the child's:

• Childcare reference number made up of 4 letters and 5 numbers. The letters are the first initial and the first 3 letters of the child's surname. For example, AJON12345.
• Tax-Free Childcare account number. This will be 13 digits long and start with 1100, and should contain the letters TFC. For example, TFC 1100012345678

If your bank displays payment information differently and you are unable to identify a parent's payment, you can submit a payment reconcilliation form or call the childcare service helpline: 03001234097

+ Q. My activation link has expired - what should I do?

Go to the log in page within your invitation link and click through. Click on the "forgot password" link and enter your email address to generate a new activation link.

+ Q. Please can you send me a link to register my setting - where can I get information?

The video on this page will take you through the process of registration - https://www.early-years.org/nicss/provider

+ Q. I have registered to attend a training session but have not received a link - can you help?

Please check your spam/junk folders or repeat registration at https://www.early-years.org/nicss/provider/informationsessions. If this is still not appearing please email us at nicssprovider@early-years.org and we will respond asap

+ Q. Can Early Years develop some invoice templates that could be used either electronically or as paper copies.

Yes.  Early Years will develop and make available templates that can be used by providers.

+ Q. I was unable to attend the session I booked, where do I find the link to rebook?

You can book onto additional sessions here - https://www.early-years.org/nicss/provider/informationsessions

+ Q. I am unsure of how to complete the section of the form to reflect our fee structure - how do i get help with this?

If you are having issues with your registration please enter full details using the Notes section at the left hand side of the page to inform us. See guidance video (6.32mins in) https://www.early-years.org/nicss/provider

+ Q. The system will not accept some of the information I am trying to input - could someone please help?

Please select the information which most closely reflects what you are offering eg. days open, hours etc see video at 5mins in https://www.early-years.org/nicss/provider

+ Q. We change our fees annually. Do we also need to notify you when parents reduce or change days at nursery?

Please update us if you change your rates only. We do not need to know if attendance schedules change.

+ Q. We run a number of groups on different sites. Will I have a different account for each site or will they be connected to the same one?

If you have separate childcare provider registrations for each site, then yes you will need a different account - each with a unique email address.

+ Q. I have not received a pre registration email - can you send me one?

You will have received an email from FSNI if you are a registered childcare provider (please check your spam/junk folder). If not, please send us your business name, address and registered childcare number we can send you a link to pre register.

+ Q. I have pre-registered but not yet received an invitation to the secure online portal

Upon submission of your pre-registration we will review your information and add you to our secure online portal as soon as possible. This may take upto 24hrs. If you have not received an invitation email from noreply@smartsimplemailer.com please check spam/junk folders and contact us at nicssprovider@early-years.org

+ Q. The pre-registration form is not accepting my details - what should I do?

Please ensure you have filled in all the required fields. If there are mandtory fields which are not relevant to you then please enter "N/A" to continue.

+ Q. When I try to login to the secure online portal, I am promoted for a verification code. When I enter the code that I receive by email it is not accepted.

Close your browser windows and click on the original login link again and this will prompt you for a 1 time verification code. Wait for a new code to come through now. Do not use any previously issued codes at this point. Ensure there are no spaces before or after the code. When you enter your verification code there is an option to "remember this device" so you do not have to repeat this process for 30 days..

+ Q. I need to change some of the information I added to the system and it now won't allow me to amend - what should I do?

Please make us aware of this by emailing nicssprovider@early-years.org and we will come back to you as soon as possible. We would appreciate your patience as we are receiving many enquiries as we launch this process.

+ Q. I have added my personal email/mobile onto this registration form - is it only Early Years that can access this information?

Yes - this information will ONLY be used for the purposes of processing your registration.

+ Q. I have filled out my registration form - please can you let me know if this was done correctly?

If you have completed this correctly you will recieve an email to confirm - please note this can sometimes end up in spam/junk mail so please check there too

+ Q. Please can you update me on the progress/status of my application?

"We ask that you login to the Early Years SmartSimple NICSS portal and enter all required details on your registration. Click on the submit button to send your registration to the Early Years team. The status of your registration will be display in the portal as ""submitted"". When your registration has been reviewed by the Early Years team your registration status will display as ""active"". There is a short video on our website were we demonstrate the registration - https://www.early-years.org/nicss/provider"

+ Q. Are the training sessions recorded?

No, however there is a short video on our website were we demonstrate the registration process - https://www.early-years.org/nicss/provider

+ Q. Can I set up an additional email address for administration of the scheme for our setting?

Not at present but we may be able to offer this in the future and will update this document accordingly.