Day of action planned on community childcare cuts

A "DAY of action" is to be held by childcare workers, providers and parents to protest against cuts in funding to community childcare of over 40 per cent since last year.

The Minister for Children Barry Andrews will be urged to abandon the year-old Community Childcare Subvention Scheme, (CCSS) which changed the way community childcare services were funded.

At a meeting of childcare workers in Liberty Hall this weekend, a decision was unanimously taken to plan protests and a day of action against the CCSS.

Gerry Flanagan, Siptu assistant organiser with the community workers' branch, said the new funding system was based on a per child subvention to the provider, rather than a subvention based on staffing numbers.

The CCSS also effectively penalises working parents as their children get a smaller subvention and so are charged more than social welfare recipients.

He said working parents had seen fees increase by between 50 per cent and 166 per cent.

"For some parents these increases are simply unaffordable and they have had to take their children out of childcare," he said. "This is particularly hitting working single mothers, many of who do their sums and it makes more sense for them to leave work.

"There was a clear consensus at the meeting that quality, affordable childcare with quality jobs must be a priority for the childcare sector. Unfortunately, the CCSS is the major obstacle to addressing these aims."

He said up until now the sector was largely "off the radar as far as Government is concerned. The protests and the day of action aim to change that". The date for the day of action will be set later.