The National Childcare Scheme is Broken

Board.surf

The National Childcare Scheme is Broken. And I see no criticism of it in any media outlets.
The staff I have encountered are unable to process basic data. They have been rude and condescending when contacted. Since launch, their site errors out more times than it provides access. Today, after waiting 5 minutes for a code by text, 5 times in a row, we gave up, as the site continuously errored out. This isn't new or due to the site being overloaded. This same issue has persisted since the scheme first began.

This year, in early 2020, the scheme used my 2018 income as obtained from revenue. My wife had since moved back to full time education and our income had dropped considerably in 2019. They stated that it was normal to use the 2019 income in 2020. They went on to state that it wouldn't be available to them until late 2020. I provided them with a statement of liability from revenue. Now at first they stated they can't use a statement of liability and they insisted on me providing a P60 for 2019. A P60, a form which is no longer available to any employee and hasn't been for a few years. After much arguing, they stated that they would accept the statement of liability but they told me that "I am lucky", over the phone.

I left it with them and following the closure of facilities due to covid 19, we were excited for a return to school in September. Now I accept the date changes and what ever other nonsense they implemented to the scheme. However, when I finally got access to the site after many attempts to accept my childcare providers application for my kids, I thought I'd look at the income assessment. Low and behold they mucked it up. They had used an income figure that was close to Gross income before tax and had deducted nothing from it. Their policies clearly state that they deduct paye, prsi, usc etc, to determine your assessed income. Not for me apparently. They just made up a random number.

So I call the scheme and am greeted with an agent who seemed bothered by my issue. After a few exacerbated sighs, she said that I could query the issue through the site. She assured me that she would speak to a supervisor as something had gone wrong with my income assessment. More information was not forthcoming, but she wanted to speak to my wife, as she stated that although it was my income, she wouldn't speak to me about it due to "gdpr". Right.....! See a couple can't apply together, although a couples income is used for the assessment. Funny enough, last time we called, they wouldn't speak to my wife about my income, and they wanted to speak to me.....(coz gdpr ya know?)

Some hours later, after trying to gain access to the site once more to make a query as advised, I uploaded my statement of liability once more from 2019 and appealed the income assessment. I was ready to be done with the scheme problems and sat back in the hopes that they would fix their own issue. Well.....no. Today we got an email stating to access the portal. We have a message that needs to be accepted to begin the 40 day window. Yes, it takes 40 days to appeal.

My children started afterschool care today. We can't use this scheme even though we need it. Childcare costs have increased, and the subsidy has not. And now, we are locked out of the scheme because of the incompetence of those working there. I have now been trying for 45 minutes to log into the portal. Each time I wait for a text. I enter the code. It logs me in, only to be told I am being logged out.

Thank you Katherine Zappone. I hope you are enjoying your pension, paid for by us, while you volunteer for a US presidential candidate. You did a terrible job. And somehow, the media don't mind at all. Does anyone else have anything unacceptable going on with the NCS? It just seems absolutely wild that this isn't noticed.

neris

Its a mess from the service providers end aswell. Excessive administration & form filling. Nearly be easier to just turn around and say sorry parents it,s not worth our while doing these schemes

coleen

Providers are finding it equally frustrating and impossible to navigate.
When I ring the helpline after waiting for quite a while I get conflicting information daily.
I am trying to assist parents to access this scheme but they often give up.

Flappidyflap

I agree too. I've had to apply by post as I can't get a card to apply online as the office is closed due to covid. The lead time on processing applications is an unknown quantity that no staff can give any detail on. Obviously postal applications will rise if people can't get the public service card. This would have been known before services reopened end June. And dont get me started on the attitude and condescending nature of some staff. Working from home with no access to the system so unable to actually do any thing to help and giving attitude when questioned. I wanted to complain but dont know where I can. Weeks passing by in delays while not able to claim the money... Its heralded as the glittering help in childcare costs not so much when it's not functioning properly.