- From: Department of Children, Disability and Equality
- Published on: 31 August 2026
- Last updated on: 31 August 2026
Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Norma Foley has welcomed important changes to the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) today which will provide increased childcare subsidies for up to 47,000 children.
The National Childcare Scheme provides two types of financial support to help families reduce the cost of early learning and childcare.
All eligible families may apply for a Universal subsidy, regardless of family income, which is worth up to €96.30 per week, for a maximum of 45 weekly hours.
Alternatively, families may qualify for a higher Income-Assessed subsidy which varies depending on family circumstances, including income level and number of children under the age of 15.
From today (31 August 2026), the income thresholds used to calculate Income-Assessed subsidies will increase. This means that an estimated 47,000 families will qualify for higher subsidy rates, helping to make early learning and childcare more affordable.
Commenting on these changes, Minister Norma Foley said:
“These increases in childcare subsidies under the National Childcare Scheme represent another important step forwards in making early learning and childcare more affordable for families.
By increasing the income-assessed thresholds and Multiple Child Discount, more families will benefit from higher levels of financial support under the National Childcare Scheme.”
The changes to how income-assessed awards are calculated under the National Childcare Scheme form part of the Government’s commitments under the Early Years Action Plan, Shaping the Future to bring down the cost of early learning and childcare for families.
In total, over €528 million will be paid to families this year under the National Childcare Scheme, out of total state investment of almost €1.5 billion in the early learning and childcare sector.
As part of the changes, the lower income threshold has increased from €26,000 to €34,000, so families now earning €34,000 or less will be able to qualify for the maximum subsidy rate.
For example, a family with a reckonable income of €34,000 will now receive a rate of €5.10 per hour for a child aged between 24-52 weeks. Prior to these changes, that same family would have received €4.40 per hour.
The upper income threshold will increase from €60,000 to €68,000, meaning that families now earning up to €68,000 will be able to avail of a higher income assessed rate. For example, a family with a reckonable income of €60,000 will now receive a rate of €2.84 per hour for a child aged between 24-52 weeks, compared to €2.14 per hour previously.
As a result of these changes, all existing income assessed subsidy recipients with an income between €26,000 and €60,000 will see an increase in their subsidy rate.
The Multiple Child Discount will also increase. This means that a lower income is used to assess subsidy entitlements, enabling many families to receive a higher hourly subsidy rate.
The Multiple Child Discount will increase from €4,300 to €5,500 for families with two children and from €8,600 to €11,000 for families with three or more children.
The multiple child discount reduces parents’ reckonable income for the Income Assessed subsidy, so for example, the parents of 3 children with income of €78,000 would have the multiple child discount of €11,000 applied, thereby bringing their reckonable income down to €67,000 which is within the new thresholds.
Families who currently avail of a Universal subsidy are encouraged to visit www.ncs.gov.ie and use the ‘Subsidy Calculator’ to check their entitlements and see whether they would benefit by applying for a higher Income Assessed rate and, if so, apply for an Income Assessed award.
The Scheme Administrator, Pobal, is communicating directly with existing National Childcare Scheme applicants regarding the upcoming changes.
Existing Income-Assessed awards will be updated automatically where applicable. Affected applicants will be notified once their award has been updated.
Further information is available at https://www.ncs.gov.ie/en/latest-news/.
