All children born on or after 1 January 2018, will need to register for the NCS scheme in order to avail themselves of childcare fee subsidies.  This will reduce your regular Creche fee once set up. There are two types of subsidies available for children aged between 24 weeks and 15 years of age:

A universal subsidy which is not means tested and provides €2.14 per hour for a maximum of 45 hours per week;

An income-assessed subsidy which is means tested and will be calculated based on your family’s individual circumstances. Rates will vary depending on your level of family income, your child’s age and educational stage, and the number of children in your family.

You should apply for whichever subsidy is of the greatest benefit to you and your family. A subsidy calculator is available here which will help you estimate how much you may be eligible for before you apply.

The easiest and fastest way to apply is online at https://ncs.gov.ie/en/

You will need:

• A verified MyGovID account*
• Your children’s information such as date of birth and PPSN
• Your/your par employment and income related details for income assessed subsidy if the household net income is under €60,000. Otherwise, you should apply for the Universal subsidy
• Your partner’s PPSN, employment and income related details (if you are a member of a couple)

*  To obtain this you need a basic MyGovID account and a Public Service Card with a verified mobile phone number.  For full instructions, please go to https://www.ncs.gov.ie/en/how-to-apply/

If you or your partner don’t already have a Public Services Card, you will need to apply by post. To do so, please contact the Parent Support Centre on 01 906 8530, Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm. These applications will take longer to process and may affect the start date of the subsidy payment.

When your application has been approved, you will receive an NCS award for each child, containing their unique CHICK key (Childcare Identifier Code Key) and details of rate & number of eligible hours. You will need to share this with us so that we can register your child on the NCS portal (called HIVE) and enter the number of hours that your child attends.

After you receive your CHICK key please send this CHICK code to Zenith Childcare by completing our online form here

After Zenith Childcare registers your child and the hours, you will receive a notification from the government’s HIVE registration system asking you to confirm that the details entered are correct. Once you send your confirmation, the Department of Children Equality and Youth will pay the subsidy to us on your behalf, and we will, in turn, subtract this amount from your monthly fee. If you do not validate our registration on the HIVE Portal we cannot deduct the subsidy from your fees.

If your child is 2 years and 8 months of age before the 1st September of that academic year then your child will qualify for the ECCE preschool scheme . This scheme provides for a subsidy of €2,451 per annum based on 5 days per week care (€64.50 over 38 weeks). Funding is pro rata for part time care. 

In order to register children for the scheme, Zenith Childcare will require your child’s full name, pps number, eircode, ethnicity and date of birth. One registered, we will deduct the ECCE preschool grant off your fees.