Offaly County Childcare Committee -   057 9135878    info@offalychildcare.com

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Welcome to Offaly County Childcare Committee

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Offaly County Childcare Committee is located at St Joseph's Community Centre in Kilcormac, Co Offaly.

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Compliance visits during the 2023 summer months

Dear Service Provider,Important Hive message 30 05 2023

We are writing to inform you that the Pobal Compliance team will conduct unannounced visits over the summer months to ELC/SAC services whose calendars indicate that they are operational during the summer.

Services operating during the summer should ensure that all records relating to all programmes are available for review during such visits. This includes records for programmes that are paused over the summer months (e.g. ECCE). Records that should be available for inspection include all ECCE Roll books /Attendance records, Fee records, Parent declarations etc.

Outcomes notifications for compliance inspections carried out during the last weeks of term may issue to services during the summer closure period. All instances of non-compliance now require some form of rectification action within a timeline set out in the compliance report notified to service providers e.g. submit a declaration of compliance, submit documentary evidence. Please note that if the deadline for taking the requisite rectification action falls during a service’s summer closure period, Compliance will allow the service provider to take their rectification actions within 30 working days of their 2023/24 calendar.

The individual NCS, ECCE and CCSP Compliance Checklists 2022/2023 are available under the Resources /Compliance sections of the Hive. These Checklists will assist in collating the relevant information that form part of each programme’s compliance checks.

Regards

DCEDIY and Pobal Compliance teams

Extension to April 2023 Financial Impact Returns

Dear Service Provider, pobal logo

The Finance and Impact Returns (FIRs) for April 2023 now need to be completed and should be submitted through Pobal Online.

The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) have advised:

  • The importance for all community services to continue to submit FIRs to Pobal.
  • These returns provide key information that allows DCEDIY and Pobal identify and help community services to help and resolve problems.
  • They act as an informative tool for services in the effective planning of their financial future.

The deadline for submission has been extended to Friday, 16 June 2023 at 5pm and submissions should include information relating to January- April 2023 inclusive.

You can contact the Early Years Provider Centre (EYPC) with queries by raising a ‘Service Request’ on the Early Years Hive.

Please follow the steps below:

  1. Login to the Early Years Hive
  2. Select ‘request type’
  3. Select the programme: “Financial and Impact Returns”.
  4. Click the relevant sub-category.

Regards

The Pobal Early Years Team

Programme Readiness for the 2023/2024 ECCE, AIM Level 1, NCS, and the CCSP Saver Programme

Dear Service Provider, Programme Readiness 20232024 now available

The first stage of Programme Readiness for ECCE, AIM Level 1, NCS and the CCSP Saver Programme 2023/2024 is now available for services to complete on the Early Years Hive.

To activate a funding agreement for ECCE, NCS and the CCSP Saver Programmes, the Primary Authorised User (PAU) for the service must complete the following steps on the All Programmes Applications page of the Early Years Hive:

  • Confirm Organisation Details
  • Confirm Service Provider Details
  • Confirm PAU
  • Confirm Portal Users
  • Confirm Bank Account
  • Confirm Tusla Registration
  • Create/Confirm 2023/2024 Service Calendar
  • Confirm Qualifications and Minimum Numbers (ECCE only)
  • Activate the Funding Agreement

Please see below for more information and guidance on the programme readiness tasks for each programme, as well as important information regarding changes to service fees lists for the 2023/2024 programme year and how Tusla registration numbers are confirmed at funding agreement activation. 

ECCE

The programme rules for ECCE 2023/2024 can be found on the ECCE Documents page.

Please see the below guides available in the Help & Support section of the Early Years Hive for guidance:

Once the above tasks are complete, you are now ready to activate the funding agreement for ECCE 2023/2024. The funding agreement is available on the Programmes page. You can find a guide and a training video on activating an ECCE funding agreement in the Help & Support section of  the Early Years Hive HERE.
Child registration for ECCE 2023/2024 will be available from 3 July 2023 on the Early Years Hive.

AIM Level 1

The application process for AIM Level 1 opens in August of each year and remains open throughout the programme year. Applications must be submitted for each programme call for services with new and existing Inclusion Coordinators (INCOs). Only applications submitted prior to the end of October will eligible to be approved for funding, backdated to the programme start date. Any applications submitted after this date, the funding will commence from the Monday following approval of the application. Applicant guidelines can be found HERE. 

NCS

The Policy Guidelines for NCS can be found on the NCS Documents page.

Please see the below guides available in the Help & Support section of the Early Years Hive for guidance:

Once you complete the above tasks, you are now ready to activate the NCS Funding Agreement for NCS 2023/2024. The funding agreement is available on the Programmes page. You can find a guide on activating an NCS Funding Agreement in the Help & Support section of  the Early Years Hive HERE.

You must activate the NCS 2023/2024 Funding Agreement before the current year’s agreement ends on 20 August 2023. This is to ensure continued participation in the scheme as claims on NCS CHICKs will be registered across both programme years. On the run up to this date, you will be prompted to activate the NCS 2023/2024 Funding Agreement during your weekly NCS Returns on the Early Years Hive if you have not done so.

NCS CHICKs can be registered on  the Early Years Hive on the NCS Registration page at any point during the programme year.

CCSP Saver Programme

The programme rules for CCSP Saver Programme 2023/2024 can be found on the CCSP Saver Programme Documents page.

Please see the below guides available in the Help & Support section of the Early Years Hive for guidance:

Full list of CCSP Saver Programme readiness tasks

How to create a CCSP Saver Programme 2023/2024 service calendar

Once the above tasks are complete, you are now ready to activate the 2023/2024 CCSP Saver Programme Funding Agreement. The funding agreement is available on the Programmes page. You can find a guide on activating a CCSP Funding Agreement in the Help & Support section of  the Early Years Hive HERE.

Child registration for the CCSP Saver Programme 2023/2024 will be available from 7 August 2023 on  the Early Years Hive.

Fees Lists Requirement for 2023/2024

As previously communicated, you will be able to activate a programme’s funding agreement without having to first submit a fees list for the 2023/2024 programme year. Fees lists for ECCE, NCS and the CCSP Saver Programme will be available for services to submit prior to the 2023/2024 programme year beginning. It is important to note that it will still be a requirement to upload a fees list. Information on submitting 2023/2024 fees on the Early Years Hive will be communicated at a later date.

Tusla Registration

Service providers must provide a valid Tusla registration number on the Early Years Hive for each care type offered. i.e., if you offer School Aged Childcare (SAC), you must provide a valid SAC registration number and if you offer Early Learning and Care (ELC), you must provide a valid ELC registration number.

All service providers must have accurate declarations of the care types they provide and the corresponding Tusla registration numbers submitted in order to complete a programme activation for 2023/2024 programme calls. If the Tusla registration numbers displayed on the Certify Tusla Number page of the programme application are inaccurate, there is one missing, or the numbers do not match the care type declarations, you must correct and/or submit them on the Tusla Registration Maintenance page before you can complete the programme activation.

Childminders are only required to provide one Tusla registration number.

See here for a how-to training video on the recent changes to managing Tusla registrations on the Early Years Hive.

Support

Should you have any queries in relation to programme readiness, please contact the Early Years Provider Centre (EYPC) by raising a Request on the Early Years Hive selecting the relevant programme and the request type from the available dropdowns. Or alternatively you can contact the EYPC by phone on 01 511 7222.

Best regards,


The Early Years Team

Improvements to the Early Years Hive Menu Navigation

Dear Service Provider, Early Years Hive

The improvements to the menu navigation of the Early Years Hive, which were communicated on Tuesday, are now live on the Early Years Hive.

To help you familiarise yourselves with the new menu, a training video outlining the changes is available under the ‘Early Years Hive how-to training videos’ heading of the Training Videos page HERE.

You can also find a document listing the changes under the heading ‘Early Years Hive Menu Navigation Change’ on the Cross-programme documents page HERE.

Commonly used guidance material will be updated to reflect the new menu navigation, including all relevant Programme Readiness guidance. All remaining guidance materials will be updated to reflect the new menu navigation over the next few weeks. We appreciate your patience on this.

Best regards,

The Early Years Team

Supporting Quality Childcare in Offaly

Offaly County Childcare Committee support the development of quality, affordable, inclusive, accessible childcare and family friendly services for all children in every part of the county.

Offaly County Childcare Committee has been meeting since May 2001 and is made up of representatives from the statutory sector, social partners, community groups, voluntary groups, the Community and Voluntary Forum, National Voluntary Children's Organisations, providers of childcare, and parents - all of whom have a vested interest in childcare provision in the county.

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