New Childcare Employment and Training Support Scheme (CETS)
Application forms for Services wishing to particpate in CETS from September 2012
Application forms for services wishing to enter the CETS scheme for the first time are now available.
All services currently participating in the CETS scheme need to complete a re-entry form.
These forms have been posted to all services on our mailing list. If you have not received the forms, please contact us and we will send them to you.
If you would like to receive the forms in Irish, please contact us.
Overview of CETS
The CETS programme is managed by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs on behalf of FAS and the VECs. FAS and the VECs, in conjunction with the Dept of Education and Skills, decide who is eligible and the main terms and conditions of the programme.
There are about 2,800 places in total available under the programme. These are divided between FAS and VEC parents, with full-time, part-time and afterschool places available.
The purpose of the programme is to benefit parents on eligible FÁS and VEC courses.
For September 2011, the operation of the programme is being revised. This has been done to make it more cost-effective and more accessible to parents. The payments system is being improved also and more services are taking part than before.
How it will work:
Most of the places will be allocated throughout the year as the need arises.
A number of providers who were in the programme will get an initial allocation. All other providers who were accepted into the programme will get no allocation to begin with, but can apply for individual places as eligible parents seek places in their facility.
If a parent has contacted their CCC looking for a place and the CCC decides your service is suitable, the CCC will contact you to ask you to take a CETS child. You are entitled to refuse a place if you are unable to take the child.
Alternatively, a parent may decide to come to you looking for a CETS place.
Please see "CETS Checklist for Childcare Providers" below for information required from a parent for a CETS place.
Approval:
Under Government accounting rules, the Department must approve each place allocated by the CCC. The Dept will usually approve each request for a new place within one full working day and the CCC will then inform the parent or provider.
Summary of what the parent does:
• The eligible parent gets a letter from FAS / the VEC (see templates below) giving their entitlement to CETS and contacts a provider and / or the CCC to get a suitable CETS place.
• Once they start a course, the parent will provide a letter to the service from FAS / VEC saying they have started the course.
• The parent fills in a CETS Parent Declaration form and sends it to the Department through the provider.
• The parent signs an attendance sheet every week.
Summary of what the provider does:
• The provider applies to be in the CETS and signs their contracts and returns them.
• The provider might be included in the initial allocation or they may not; if not, they can look for a place for qualified parents as the need arises.
• The provider keeps copies of letters from the parent confirming their eligibility and participation in courses.
• The provider sends on the CETS Parent Declaration form to the Department.
• The provider gets the parent to sign the attendance sheet every week and sends it at the end of each term to the CCC.
CETS Checklist for Childcare Providers. Please click here: File link
FAS Eligibility Template Letter for CETS Scheme. Please click here: File link
VEC Eligibility Template Letter for CETS. Please click here: File link
Is my service eligible to join the Scheme?
In order to be eligible services must be participating in ECCE and or the CCS
What does the Scheme mean to your Service?
Participating services must agree to use grant funding received under the scheme to reserve and provide free childcare places to children of qualifying parents in return for the capitation grant paid by the OMCYA. These places will be made available to children of qualifying parents who are attending a FÁS training course or an educational programme administered by a Vocational Educational Committee (VEC).
Capitation Rate
Participating services will be paid a weekly capitation fee for each place reserved
€170 for a full-day service (at least 10 hours)
€95 for a half-day service (at least 5 and a half hours)
€50 for an after school service (at least 3 hours)
€95 for an after school service with pick up
Information for After School Services:
Christmas period
For the first week of January, the Department has agreed to allocate top-up funding for parents of children in existing CETS afterschool places (i.e. the difference between an after-school and a full-day place capitation).
This will benefit parents using afterschool places, allowing them to avail of a full time place for this period. The amount of top-up payable will be €120 per week for an afterschool place and €75 for an afterschool with pick-up place, bringing both to the €170 level.
Occasional one-day closures
The Department is not in a position to calculate payments for individual days off outside standard school holidays. CETS places are currently paid for Bank Holidays. It is expected that childcare services should offer full day places to children availing of after-school CETS places on days that their local schools are off, in lieu of the payments they already receive for Bank Holidays. If a service does not wish to facilitate this, they should inform the parents and Dublin City Childcare Committee. In such cases, parents who wish to transfer to a suitable service which is prepared to accommodate them in this manner will be allowed to do so. This requirement will be a contractual obligation for participating services from the 2012/13 year.
Part time places
No top-up will be payable for part-time places.
Full terms and conditions of the Scheme are available on www.omc.gov.ie or Dublin City Childcare Committee. Application forms are available www.childcareonline.ie
CETS SIGN IN SHEET (Jan-March)
Please note the CETS Sign In Sheet for the January – March period is now available from Dublin City Childcare Committee. Parents availing of CETS places should be asked to sign this form each week to confirm attendance at their FÁS / VEC course, and also to confirm their child’s attendance at your childcare service. If you need a copy of the Sign In Sheet, please contact us at (01) 873 3696.
These Sign In Sheets should be returned to Dublin City Childcare Committee before the 14th of March, 2012. New CETS Sign In Sheets will be issued after that date.
Also, if you have not already done so, please return the CETS Sign In Sheets from the September – December 2011 period as soon as possible. These should be posted to:
Dublin City Childcare Committee,
Office 2.13,
Distillers Building,
Smithfield,
Dublin 7.