New Childcare Subsidy Saves Parents Nearly £1m

The new Northern Ireland Childcare Subsidy Scheme (NICSS) has helped parents save nearly £1 million on their September childcare bills.

When combined with the contributions from Tax-Free Childcare, the total savings for Northern Irish parents exceed £2 million. Welcoming the news, Education Minister Paul Givan emphasised the ambitious nature of the project, which was announced in May 2024 and became operational in September.

The NICSS has already seen significant uptake, with close to 13,000 children and 1,500 childcare providers registered. In its first month alone, 12,630 children were approved to benefit from the subsidy, which aims to ease financial burdens on families and encourage more parents, particularly women, to remain in or return to the workforce.

Designed for working parents with young children, the NICSS complements Tax-Free Childcare and targets families who typically face the highest childcare costs. The Minister said: "When I took up post as Education Minister, I pledged as a priority to make childcare more affordable for working families. This scheme is now delivering for those hard-working families across Northern Ireland and they are starting to feel the direct benefit in their pockets. This scheme is an outstanding success and in September alone has saved parents almost £1m on their childcare bills, with an additional estimated £1.1m in savings through Tax-Free Childcare.

"The combined effect of both these schemes is that Northern Ireland working parents have saved over £2m in September. I commend the exceptional level of commitment and cooperation shown by the sector to support the rollout in a very short period of time so that families would feel the benefit as quickly as possible."

Commenting on continuing engagement with the sector, the Minister added: "I have spoken directly to providers delivering the scheme and to the parents using and benefiting from it and it has been extremely encouraging to hear the real difference the scheme is making to family life for local families."

In conclusion, the Minister said: "Registration for the Childcare Subsidy Scheme remains open and I encourage anyone who is eligible and has not yet signed up, to do so. For my part I will continue to work to deliver affordable childcare for parents throughout Northern Ireland."