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For Written Answer on : 05/11/2024
Question Number(s): 890 Question Reference(s): 44065/24
Department: Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Asked by: David Stanton T.D.
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QUESTION
To ask the Minister for Children; Equality; Disability; Integration and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 541 of 15 October 2024, if an assessment has been conducted that would indicate how many services will be impacted by the cap, and the number of services which will have to downsize as a result; the number of children and families who will be without a service as a result; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
REPLY
The introduction of Core Funding in 2022 brought a significant increase in investment for the sector, with €259 million of funding paid directly to services in year 1 of the scheme, of which €210.8 million was entirely new funding.
Core Funding has increased by 15% to €331 million for the third programme year which began in September 2024. This increase will facilitate increases in the base rate for all age groups, the strengthening of targeted measures which were introduced in year 2 to support sessional and smaller services, and growth of almost 6%.
The majority of Core Funding is distributed to services via the base rate, which is based on a service’s staffed capacity – the opening hours, operating weeks, the age group for whom services are provided, and the number of places available. Services opening for longer hours or offering more places will receive a higher value of Core Funding than other services. This is because their costs of operation are higher.
A maximum base rate allocation was introduced in September 2023 for the second year of Core Funding. Individual Partner Services will not receive funding for their staffed capacity through the base rate beyond this maximum value. When introduced in year two of the scheme, this maximum allocation was set at €600,000 and for year three of the scheme from September 2024, it has been reduced to the current value of €500,000.
When the maximum base rate allocation of €500,000 was announced in July 2024, 4 full day Partner Services were expected to see their base rates capped by this maximum without making any changes to their provision. Of those services, 2 would see their allocation decrease from the current programme year and 2 would see minor increases up to this maximum value (with the increases relating to the higher base rates that took effect in September 2024).
Furthermore, at this time, an additional 3 Partner Services were projected to receive a base rate allocation of between €500,000 and €450,000 at the new rates and could reach this maximum if they were to expand their offering under this new maximum base rate.
The maximum base rate allocation aims to maximise the efficiency of this significant State investment in the sector, to best spread a limited budget across the entire sector rather than increasing funded capacity for the largest services.
As of 24 October 2024, 5 Partner Services were seeing their base rates capped. This includes the 4 services known to be affected (2 services whose base rate allocations exceeded €500,000 before any increases took effect in September and 2 services who saw their base rate increase to the ceiling with the increased rates). The final service increased their capacity to a level where their base rate allocation reached this ceiling.
Services’ offerings fluctuate between and during programme years, and there are no apparent deviations from these trends within the small number of services currently in receipt of the highest levels of funding through Core Funding.
To date the Department has not been made aware of any service who has had to down size as a result of the measure.
