01 451 6099, firhouse@curiosityhouse.ie

Some notification here if needed... Can be multiline.

NCS Funding Information

Curiosity House participates in the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) to support parents with childcare costs. It is important to note that the NCS is a scheme provided for parents and is an agreement between the parent and the NCS. Our role is to administer the payment deductions based on the funding information provided to us.

NCS Process

  • Parents apply online at ncs.gov.ie. To apply online, you need: A verified MyGovID account

  • Subsidies:  There are two types of subsidies you can apply for under the National Childcare Scheme: A Universal subsidy and an Income Assessed subsidy.

  • Universal subsidies are available to all families with children between 24 weeks and 15 years of age. It is not means tested and provides €2.14 per hour for up to 45 hours per week off the cost of a Tusla registered childcare place.

  • Income Assessed subsidies are available to families with children aged between 24 weeks and 15 years. They are means tested and will be calculated based on your individual circumstances. To apply for an Income Assessed subsidy, your reckonable family income has to be less than €60,000 per year.

Steps

  1. Parents apply for a CHICK.

  2. Parent sends Curiosity House CHICK details.  Please be sure to send on all CHICK details:  Your child’s date of birth will be displayed, as will the date of when the Chick code begins and expires. Curiosity House will upload the CHICK on to the HIVE.  Please be aware that the HIVE is case and character sensitive so we kindly ask that you let us know exactly how you entered your child’s name on the system.  Please send this on to admin@curiosityhouse.ie

  3. Once Curiosity House uploads a child’s CHICK, parents will receive notification of this and will be asked to confirm.  Please note that claims cannot be applied until parent confirmation is completed on your end.  NCS claims can also not be backdated.

  4. Claim is processed, and reduction applied to fees.

  5. Must complete a weekly NCS return for every child registered on the scheme.  This is to ensure that in general children are in attendance for the number of hours that is stated on their NCS claim.  Curiosity House will be subject to audits on this information.  It is helpful for parents to understand how NCS claims are audited by Pobal:

  6. If we notice that a child appears to be regularly under attending their number of claimed NCS hours per week for a period of 4 weeks, we will notify the parents and advise them that should this continue Pobal may decide to reduce the number of NCS that can be claimed to the number of hours that the child is marked as attending.

  7. If under attendance continues for a period of 8 weeks or more it is likely that Pobal will reduce the number of claimed hours, and therefore the deduction from fees will also be reduced.

Please find some information here:

https://www.ncs.gov.ie/en/