Dear Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare Providers,
Core Funding updates for the Programme Year 2023/2024
Review and Confirm
Under the Core Funding Programme, Partner Services are required to Review and Confirm their Core Funding Application information throughout the programme year.
The first pre-programme Review and Confirm window for the 2023/2024 programme year opened Tuesday 1 August and will close today Thursday 31 August 2023.
It is important to note that although the window will close today the 31 August services who have not yet completed the Review and Confirm are still required to complete the process and the Review and Confirm form will remain open on the Early Years Hive. Core Funding payments will not commence for the 2023/2024 programme year until the process is completed and the Review and Confirm is approved.
A Partner Service’s base rate will be capped on the date of approval of their August Review and Confirm or the date of approval of their Original Core Funding Application Module, whichever is the later.
Partner services who submitted their Core Funding Application Module on or after the 1 August are not required to complete the August Review and Confirm.
Partner Services are required to complete their online Fees Table and Parent Statement for Partner Services before completing the August Review and Confirm.
To support services in completing a Review & Confirm form, a detailed guidance document and tailored training videos are available in the Resources section of the Early Years Hive.
Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement:
Once a partner service has submitted their application, they have a 14-day window to activate the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement 2023. The funding agreement can be found on the All Programme Applications page of the Early Years Hive.
Once 14 days have passed, the Core Funding Application Module will be cancelled if the funding agreement has not been activated, and this will require a new application submission.
You can view a copy of the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement 2023 in Core Funding Documents.
A training video is available here to guide Partner Services on accepting the Funding Agreement.
Please note that for any service who does not accept their Core Funding Partner Service Agreement Funding for the 2023/2024 Core Funding programme year, on or before the 1 September, will not receive the full 52 weeks of allocations as payments are from the point of contract.
Quality Action Plan:
In accordance with Partnership for the Public Good, (DCEDIY 2021) the Core Funding model commits to drive high- quality service provision. To support this, Core Funding requires all early learning and care (ELC), school-age childcare (SAC) and childminding services that benefit from Core Funding to complete a quality planning template, using tools provided by the Department and their agents to compile their Core Funding Quality Action Plan.Partner Services must fulfil their Quality Action Plan (QAP) requirements. and attach their completed Quality Action Plan to their Service Profile at their November Review and Confirm orsubsequent Review and Confirm period if a new applicant to Core Funding during or after the November Review and Confirm window .
There will be an opportunity mid-year to makes amendments to the Quality Action Plan if required and a further Quality Action Plan report at the end of the programme year.
Services who have signed up to Core Funding will receive a survey link from their local City/County Childcare Committee (CCC). Completion of the survey will generate a QAP document which must be saved and then uploaded to the QAP section of the Service Profile on Early Years Hive.
The Quality Action Plan upload functionality will be available on Early Years Hive from Friday 1 September 2023.
For further information and support relating to QAP, Partner Services must contact their local CCC (County Childcare Committee).
Guidance documents and training videos will be available on Early Years Hive in the coming days.
Support:
If your service requires support completing an application, additional resources are available on the Core Funding Documents page on the Early Years Hive.
Your local CCC (County Childcare Committee) can also assist you in completing your Core Funding Application Module.
If you require any further assistance or clarification on your Core Funding Application Module, please contact the Early Years Provider Centre by raising a Request as follows:
Programme: Core Funding
Request Type: Application
Request Type Detail: Application
Best regards,
The Early Years Team
