The DCEDIY has announced the rates and values for the new Core Funding Scheme and launched an online tool that allows Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age Childcare (SAC) providers to estimate the potential value of this new Core Funding Scheme for their service.
The Core Funding value for an individual service will be calculated based on the following information:
- The total service capacity per age range offered
- The hours of operation of the service by week and weeks per year
- The number of ELC graduate Lead Educators in ELC rooms in the service
- If the ELC or combined ELC and SAC service has an ELC graduate as the service manager
The Core Funding Ready Reckoner online tool is accessible to all and is designed to give an idea of what services can expect to receive based on their characteristics and to allow different scenarios of provision to be tested.
The Ready Reckoner is an online tool to support services to estimate their potential indicative value of Core Funding.
It is a lightweight calculator which can be accessed and used on the Hive by anyone, whether they are logged in or not. Users will enter information relating to an Early Learning and Care (ELC) and/or School Age Childcare (SAC) service to estimate how much income they potentially could avail of under a Core Funding allocation.
Although the Ready Reckoner does not assess eligibility for Core Funding and is not an exact calculation, it is designed to give an idea of what to expect and to allow any interested party to test different scenarios.
The purpose of the Ready Reckoner is to provide an indication of the potential funding allocation an eligible ELC/SAC service may be able to expect when applications for Core Funding go live later in the year.
This will show the benefits of applying for Core Funding when it is possible to do so. The Ready Reckoner can give users an idea of what their Core Funding amount may be so that they know what the approximate figure to expect.
Once services have an idea of the funding allocation they might be eligible for as things are, they may wish to re-do the Ready Reckoner with different situations in mind. This would give an idea of how a Core Funding allocation would be impacted if you opened a new room or hired a new ELC graduate staff member for your baby room, for example.
You can find the Early Years Hive here and the Ready Reckoner here.
The full announcement can be found here and the full detailed document is here.
Read More: What is the New 'Core Funding' Model in Early Years Sector and How Will it Work?
Read More: Funding Model and Workforce Plan Among Reforms for Early Years Sector - Minister for Children
