![\"\"](\"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/2.25326061.jpg\")
The Government\u2019s National Childcare Scheme will force single parents out of work, according to a representative group.<\/p>\nThe Government\u2019s National Childcare Scheme will force single parents out of work, according to a representative group.<\/p>\n
Single Parents Acting For Rights of Kids (Spark) says the new scheme, launched by Children\u2019s Minister Katherine Zappone in March this year, will take up to \u20ac400 a month from Ireland\u2019s most vulnerable families while offering families with higher incomes a small benefit.<\/p>\n
The group says it has met with Ms Zappone to raise the issue, a meeting it labelled a \u201cbox-ticking exercise\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere seems to have been no communication between two government departments when writing this policy,\u201d Ms Bayliss added.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe told the Department of Children that the loss of certain schemes meant that people wouldn\u2019t be able to train or go to college, which is exactly the opposite of what the Department of Social Protection are trying to do, and they told us to take it up with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been told to look at \u2018the bigger picture\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe keep being told that this new scheme will benefit 95% of families, but the 5% of families it doesn\u2019t are the ones struggling and the most in need of help.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new scheme adopts a universal approach to childcare subsidies and ends certain targeted supports, which Spark says had allowed low income families to work, train and avail of education.<\/p>\n
The universal subsidies are not means tested and provide 50c per hour towards the cost of a registered childcare place for up to a maximum of 40 hours per week, a total of \u20ac20 a week.<\/p>\n
The Income Assessed Subsidies are calculated based on individual circumstances.<\/p>\n
The subsidy can be used towards the cost of a registered childcare place for up to a maximum of 40 hours if you are working, studying or training, and a maximum of 15 hours if you are not.<\/p>\n
However, the scheme will not be implemented until October, and one single parent Gayle Smith, who is currently studying at Maynooth University, says the Department has only told her that subsidies \u201cwill be based on her personal circumstances\u201d, but could not state exactly how much she is set to lose when the strategy comes into force.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t even plan for anything because I don\u2019t know what I\u2019ll be getting or losing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The loss of targeted schemes like the Childcare Employment and Training Support (CETS) scheme, which meant lone parents in higher education or skills training courses could qualify for a subsidized childcare place, has been deemed a severe loss.<\/p>\n
Similar losses are set to be faced by parents on the CCS (Community Childcare Subvention) scheme, which allows low income families to access affordable childcare, and additional supports for children who require early intervention.<\/p>\n
Spark says many lone parents will now see losses of over \u20ac350 per month and feel they will be forced out of work and \u201ctrapped on social welfare dependency\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ms Bayliss told the Press Association that while the new National Childcare Scheme could offer a progressive step, in the current format, it is regressive, that will entrench the poorest families in poverty and offer little support to higher income families.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s a lack of empathy from Minister Zappone, and her officials,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe very fact that the Government is allowing people to stay on their existing scheme until August next year if they are not better off, is them acknowledging that a lot of people are going to be worse off in this scheme.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will absolutely be single parents out of work because of this strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n
One in four families with children in Ireland is a one-parent family, 84% of which are single-mothers.<\/p>\n
In 2016, there were 218,817 family units with children headed by a lone parent, an increase of over 3,500 families since 2011.<\/p>\n