Dear Colleagues,
Here are the deadlines, important dates, and announcements for the week of 6 – 10 December 2021.
DEADLINES/IMPORTANT DATES:
No deadlines at the present time.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION:
Making changes to NCS and CCSP
As we approach the holidays and year end, you may need to make some NCS and CCSP changes.
Adding closures to your NCS Service Calendar
If you are closing your service over Christmas and the New Year, you must mark those closures on your NCS calendar in advance. You will also need to note if it is a paid (subsidised) closure. Every service is entitled to 10 subsidised closures in the NCS year.
If you wish to avail of a paid/subsidised closure, you have to mark those closures individually, as the option is not available on the closed period option.
Remember changes to calendar opening hours cannot be made once the returns for that week have been submitted.
NCS Non-Term Hours
If you need to increase a child’s attendance hours to cover the holiday period, remember that adding non-term hours to a registration has to be confirmed by the parent for them to come into effect. Guidance on this process can be found on the Hive.
Remember that changes can’t be made to registration hours once the return for that week has been submitted.
NCS Weekly Returns
As per the NCS Funding Agreement 2021-22, NCS returns must be submitted on the Early Years Hive each week. Returns become available from the last day (Sunday) of the reporting week and must be completed by the following Tuesday and are based on the previous week’s attendance.
If your service is closing over Christmas, returns for these weeks still must be submitted. If you are unable to submit returns during a closure period, please see the below section on Bridging Payments.
NCS Bridging payments
A ‘Bridging Payment’ is available to service providers during periods of subsidised closure, if they are unavailable to submit their weekly NCS return i.e., Christmas holidays, mid-term breaks, etc.
When submitting the NCS return that is two weeks before the subsidised closure period, the Hive recognises the closure coming up and asks the following: “You have an upcoming closure, do you want to request a Bridging Payment for the dates from “X” to “Z”? (Yes/No)”
If Yes is selected, the payment is made during the week the service is closed i.e. when they are unable to submit their returns. The service must then submit “Fast returns” for this period when they return after the closure.
For guidance on returns, please see the NCS Attendance Returns Guide on the Hive.
NCS unconfirmed claims
NCS subsidies can only be paid once an application has been successfully completed, the CHICK has been registered with the childcare provider and the parent has confirmed on their portal that all details are correct. Please check for any unconfirmed claims in your registrations in case you need to remind parents to confirm the registration. Payments will only be made when the registrations have been confirmed by the parent. The parent confirmed field will display No if there are any outstanding claim weeks that have not been confirmed.
CCSP: Amending Sessions (e.g. if a child is changing levels of service over the Christmas period)
If a child is changing the hours of attendance over the Christmas holidays, input a CCSP Leaver with the date the child is changing service level. A new registration should then be created with the updated level of service for the appropriate period. Please see pages 14/15 of the Registration Guide on PIP.
EWSS enhanced rates
It was confirmed today that the EWSS will revert to the enhanced rates until the end of January 2022. The DCEDIY have confirmed that this applies to ELC and SAC services.
Funding model and Workforce plan report launch
On 7 December 2021, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman T.D., published the Expert Group’s report Partnership for the Public Good: A New Funding Model for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare, following acceptance of its recommendations by Government.
The Expert Group was independently chaired and included national and international experts in ELC and SAC systems, funding and quality; economics; and relevant policy experts from the Government Departments involved in implementing the new funding model.
The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth also published the report, ‘Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare, 2022-2028’. This plan sets out a series of actions to meet the workforce related targets in First 5 and includes an implementation plan for the next three years (2022-2024).
On 2 December OECD launched their Country Policy report – a review of Early Childhood Education and Care in Ireland. This report included some workforce-related recommendations that are reflected in the Nurturing Skills report.
Happy Talk Christmas Activities
We have attached Happy Talk’s Christmas newsletter full of great language tips and tricks as well as rhymes and games.
Early Years Provider Centre Christmas opening hours
You can contact the EYPC on 01 511 7222 and EYPC@pobal.ie or you can raise a request via the Hive. Their Christmas hours are:
Thursday 23 December 9.00 – 4.00
Friday 24 – Tuesday 28 December Closed
Wednesday 29 – Frida 31 December 10.00 – 3.00
Monday 3 January 2022 Closed
Bereavement and grief information
The HSE in partnership with other organisations is promoting supports and services for people who may be struggling with issues related to loss or for those supporting the bereaved. There is a National Bereavement Support Line which is open Monday – Friday 10.00 – 1.00 on 1800 807077. Information can be found on this dedicated page on the HSE’s website https://www2.hse.ie/wellbeing/mental-health/bereavement-and-loss.html
The penultimate bulletin of 2021
Next Friday’s bulletin (17.12.21) will be the final bulletin of 2021.
Kind regards
Westmeath County Childcare Committee
