Dear Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare provider,
We are pleased to advise that the 2022/23 Annual Early Years Sector Profile survey will be available on the Early Years Hive from Friday 5th May.
The Annual Early Years Sector Profile is the primary data source on the Irish Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age Childcare (SAC) sector. It is developed and published by Pobal in collaboration with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY).
The survey, which has been running for 21 years, plays a central role in informing policy development, assessing the impact of policy change and provides a comprehensive national analysis of approximately 4,400 ELC and SAC services throughout Ireland.
While we encourage all services to complete the survey, the completion of this year’s survey within the open window is mandatory for all existing Core Funding Partner Services. Services who wish to become a Core Funding Partner Service in the future must also complete the survey in advance of submitting their Core Funding application. As well as providing information about the sector, this survey enables the capture of data that will help to monitor the impact of the new funding model, Together for Better, on the sector.
Core Funding Partner Services with an active contract within the current programme call, up to the 29th March, must complete the March Review and Confirm prior to completing the Annual Early Years Sector Profile 2022/23.
This year’s edition of the Annual Early Years Sector Profile will be shorter as the overall number of questions has been reduced. This is because much of the staff and rooms information will be sourced from Core Funding data. This change will help limit the time and effort required to complete the survey. As the survey no longer asks for information, such as staff wages, it is important that staff wages data is kept up to date in the Core Funding Service Profile. The Income and Costs Section of the Annual Early Years Sector Profile has also been removed, with the financial reporting requirements through Core Funding due for submission quarter four 2023 replacing this.
Many thanks in advance for sharing this valuable information about your service which will contribute to the overall snapshot of the sector as a whole.
City and County Childcare Committees are available to assist and support with completing the Sector Profile. In addition, training videos will also be available on the Early Years Hive.
The deadline for submission is 6th June.