Higher Capitation Announcement

ECCE Higher Capitation:

On Monday the 30th July 2018 an official announcement was made by Pobal that they would now be the administrator of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Higher Capitation programme on behalf of the DCYA from the 2018/2019 programme year.

Officials from the DCYA have confirmed with Pobal that the ECCE Higher Capitation Application Process 2018/2019 will open by 28th September 2018, via POBAL’s online portal system.

The date of payments of the ECCE Higher Capitation rate will be individual to each service on approval of a fully completed application. Once an application has been approved, services will be paid the Higher Capitation rate and any arrears due to them on the next available payment date from POBAL.

Individual services can request the expected payment date from POBAL on receipt of confirmation of their approval for Higher Capitation, in the same manner as they could in the last programme year.

Pre payments made against an ECCE 2018/2019 contract are based on a Full Time Equivalent (FTE) count at the end of March 2018 and Higher Capitation level in June 2018.

Any queries in relation to ECCE Higher Capitation for the 2018/2019 programme year should be directed to Pobal Online Support at onlinesupport@pobal.ie or on 01–5117222. Queries can also be directed to your City/County Childcare Committee.

AIM Level 7 – Additional Assistance :

The Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) Level 7 payments are linked to the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) contract and cannot be made prior to the ECCE contract being activated.

A number of prepayment checks must be carried out before an AIM payment can be made. These checks are as follows:

• A child that has been approved for AIM supports is registered on the ECCE Programme (or any of the other DCYA childcare programmes where the child is also eligible for the ECCE Programme) on PIP for the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) 2018/2019 programme call;
• That the status of the AIM registration is at ‘approved’ on PIP;
• To check the number of days of AIM Level 7 support does not exceed the number of days that the child is registered on PIP;
• To ensure that the number of weeks of AIM Level 7 support agrees with the “start date” on the approved registration;
• Any pre-payment conditions have been met by the pre-school provider.

The first AIM Additional Assistance grant in relation to the September 2018 pre-school year will be paid to pre-school services on 28^th September 2018.

* Please note the initial AIM Additional Assistance grant in relation to the September 2017 pre-school year was paid to pre-school settings on 29^th September 2017 and DCYA were not made aware of any problems in relation to the timing of that payment.

As an application for AIM must be submitted for each programme year the Department is unable to provide provisional payments until the checks referred to above have been carried out.

Additional ECCE Capitation for employing a LINC graduate as an Inclusion Co-ordinator:

The Leadership for Inclusion (LINC) higher education programme for early year’s practitioners is being delivered by a consortium, led by Mary Immaculate College, Limerick together with Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education, Maynooth University and Early Childhood Ireland.

The LINC programme is fully funded by the DCYA and is free to participants. Additionally, each participating student will receive a once-off payment of €200 to assist with covering expenses arising from participation on the programme.

An application can be made for additional ECCE capitation to be paid to pre-school providers for employing a LINC graduate who has agreed to take on the role of Inclusion Co-ordinator in the pre-school setting,

Pobal, on behalf of the DCYA, processes applications for this additional ECCE capitation. The application process in relation to settings employing a previously approved LINC graduate opened in August 2018 for Early Years providers. The application process for 2018 LINC graduates will open on 24^th September 2018, after this years LINC participants have been notified of their results and the complete list of qualifying 2018 LINC graduates is sent to DCYA/Pobal. However, please note, where a staff member is in place from the beginning of the pre-school year, the additional ECCE capitation will be back dated once the application is approved and will be included in the next payment.

Roscommon CCC advises you to monitor your PIP portal for any further updates on these issues.