Dear Service Provider,

The table shows:

• The dates of the first preliminary payments for the CCSP Saver Programme and ECCE for the 2025/2026 programme call.
• The dates the funding agreements must have been activated by, to be included in the first preliminary payment.

Funding agreements activated after the above dates continue to be eligible for preliminary payments and will be included in subsequent payment runs.

CCSP Saver Programme payments

• Preliminary payments for CCSP 2025 will be made on 8 and 15 August.
• Payments from 22 August onwards will be based on approved registrations for the CCSP programme year 2025.
• Over-payments in CCSP 2024 will be deducted from preliminary payments.
• To qualify for the CCSP 2025 preliminary payment, a service must have 6 or more approved CCSP 2024 registrations, with attendance on or after 1 July 2025. Payment will be based on approved registration values between 2 June and 13 June (i.e. the payment is for 2 weeks).

CCSP 2025 will commence on Monday 11 August 2025. Registrations for CCSP 2025 open on Monday 4 August 2025.

Please ensure that your service calendar is up to date and correct in advance of the programme call start date. Service calendars cannot be retrospectively amended on the Early Years Hive.

ECCE payments

• Preliminary payments for ECCE 2025 will be made on 22 August, 29 August, and 5 September.
• No preliminary payments will be made the week ending 12 September.
• Over-payments in ECCE 2024 will be deducted from preliminary payments.
• Payments based on approved registrations will commence in week ending 19 September 2025.
• AIM Level 1 allocations will be included in the ECCE payment on 19 September 2025 onward.
• The ECCE 2025 preliminary payment will be based on approved ECCE 2024 registrations (FTE) in the sample week beginning 25 November 2024 (the payment is for 4 weeks at this rate).

ECCE 2025 will commence on Monday 25 August 2025. Registrations for ECCE 2025 opened on Monday 7 July 2025.

Please ensure that your service calendar is up to date and correct in advance of the programme call start dates. Service calendars cannot be retrospectively amended on the Early Years Hive.

Preliminary payment details

• Services will not receive more than one preliminary payment.
• Payments will be made to the existing bank account associated with the service/programme on the Early Years Hive.

Back-dating registrations

The latest date a service can register a child for ECCE is 6 weeks after the child’s start date.

The latest date a service can register a child for the CCSP Saver Programme is 4 weeks after the date the service opens for the new programme year.

In the case of late registrations, all proofs of children’s start dates and attendance must be submitted to Pobal, or the registration may be declined.

The Department of Children, Disability and Equality (DCDE) reserves the right not to backdate funding on any late registrations

Payment schedules

Payment schedules for the CCSP Saver Programme 2025 and ECCE 2025 are available in the Programme Documents section of the Early Years Hive.

Where the preliminary payment already made is more than the amount due to you, based on your approved registrations, subsequent payments will be adjusted for reconciliation purposes. 

AIM Level 7 Payments

AIM Level 7 payments for the 2025/2026 programme will commence on 22 August 2025. Payments are made one week in advance and weekly thereafter.

To ensure the effective processing of AIM Level 7 Standard 2025 payments, you must ensure the child(ren) who have been approved AIM Level 7 2025 support are registered on the ECCE 2025 programme in an ECCE-registered pre-school service. For AIM Level 7 Plus and Non-term 2025 payments, you must ensure the child meets the NCS requirements as per the AIM programme rules.

Regards,
The Early Years Team