Givan unveils new childcare subsidy scheme as part of £25m support package

The investment announced by Education Minister Paul Givan also includes a plan to provide all children in the region with a minimum of 22.5 hours a week of funded pre-school education in the year prior to going to primary school.

At present, only 40% of children in Northern Ireland receive 22.5 hours of pre-school education, with the rest availing of 12.5 hours of part-time, pre-school provision.

Mr Givan said 2,200 new full-time places (an increase of 10%) would be on offer by September 2025, with continued expansion from then on.

Education Minister Paul Givan during a visit to a Sure Start centre in east Belfast, where he announced a new childcare subsidy scheme is to be offered to working parents in Northern Ireland as part of a £25 million package of measures

In terms of childcare, working parents in Northern Ireland can currently secure 20% off their bills through a UK-wide, tax-free scheme run through HMRC.

The new Stormont-funded subsidy will see the parents who are eligible for the tax-free childcare scheme receive a further 15% reduction in their costs, with the Department of Education providing a top-up directly to childcare providers.

The Stormont subsidy, which is set to be rolled out in September, will initially only apply to children of pre-primary school ages.

Mr Givan said the initiative, when combined with the 20% reduction through the UK scheme, would save parents with two children in full-time childcare about £8,000 a year.

The minister said he would like to increase the subsidy above 15% if more funding became available.

The early learning and childcare package unveiled by the minister will also offer direct support to providers, with the minister vowing to both stabilise and expand the sector. That will include direct interventions to help childcare facilities at risk of closure.

The minister visited a Sure Start centre in east Belfast on Thursday afternoon after securing the approval of his Executive colleagues for the package.

The Sure Start programme supports parents with children aged under four living in disadvantaged areas.

“This is an ambitious package of measures for early learning and childcare representing the most significant enhancement of early years investment in Northern Ireland in decades,” said Mr Givan.

“This investment clearly demonstrates that, despite an extremely challenging budget position, the Executive remains committed to making support for young children, their families and the services they rely on, a top priority.”

Mr Givan had secured the £25 million of ring-fenced funding for the development of a new childcare and early learning strategy as part of the budget agreed by the Executive last month.

The minister has previously told the Assembly it would cost £400 million to fully fund a comprehensive strategy.

He told reporters that the measures announced on Thursday were “interim” steps ahead of the development of a longer-term early learning and childcare strategy. He insisted the package was “only the start”.

“I very much welcome the Executive’s commitment to the delivery of 22.5 hours funded pre-school education for all children in their pre-school year,” he added.

“This is an unprecedented expansion of early years developmental provision in over 25 years and will undoubtedly have a lasting impact on the lives of children in Northern Ireland for decades to come.

“It is a necessarily ambitious programme which will ease current pressures on parents and providers and lay the foundation upon which I intend to build.

“This is, by no means, the limit of my ambitions, but rather an important first step towards a full early learning and childcare strategy.”