The Northern Ireland Childcare Subsidy Scheme (NICSS) is a Department of Education (DE) initiative designed to reduce the childcare costs of eligible working parents by 15% for all qualifying children.

The NI Executive has agreed that the subsidy scheme will target working parents who are eligible for Tax Free Childcare (TFC) and have children who have not yet started primary school – the scheme is not open to the parents of children in School-Age Childcare.

From 1 September, any parent receiving TFC for a child who has not yet enrolled in primary school will be eligible to participate in the scheme, provided their childcare provider is signed up with HMRC as a TFC provider.

The subsidy will only be available to parents who register their child with the scheme. Only eligible children registered by 20 August will be processed for a subsidy in the September cycle.

Early Years is administering the scheme on behalf of DE. Visit www.early-years.org/nicss for full details.

𝗪𝗵𝗶𝗹𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗿𝗲-𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗻, 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹-𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁. 𝗪𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗗𝗘.