What Changes in September 2026
If you are paying the highest childcare fees in the country, your weekly bill is about to drop. Not by a huge amount, but by enough to notice. This could help reduce the maximum childcare fees ireland 2026 over time.
From September 2026, the government is lowering the maximum fees that childcare services in the Core Funding scheme can charge parents. The new caps were announced in June 2026 by Minister Norma Foley . And they affect every service that receives this state funding, which is most of them.
Here is the simple version of what is changing, who benefits, and what it means for your wallet.
What Is Core Funding and Why Does It Matter?
Before we get to the numbers, you need to understand one thing: Core Funding is the reason these caps exist.
Core Funding is a grant the government pays directly to childcare providers. It helps them cover staff wages, rent, insurance, and all the other costs of running a service. In return for this money, providers have to follow certain rules. One of those rules is a fee freeze. They cannot increase their fees above what they charged in September 2021. This supports households facing the burden of the maximum childcare fees ireland 2026 by keeping costs predictable for families.
But a freeze alone was not enough. Some services were charging very high fees even back in 2021. So the government added a second rule: maximum fee caps. No service in Core Funding can charge more than a certain amount per week, no matter what their costs are, ensuring better protection for families and carers under the maximum childcare fees ireland 2026 framework.
The first caps came in September 2025. Now, in September 2026, those caps are being lowered again.
The New Caps: A Simple Table
The fees are divided into six bands, based on how many hours per week your child attends .
| Hours per week | Old cap (2025/26) | New cap (2026/27) |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 10 hours | €59 | €56 |
| 10 to 19.5 hours | €118 | €112 |
| 20 to 29.5 hours | €177 | €168 |
| 30 to 39.5 hours | €236 | €224 |
| 40 to 49.5 hours | €295 | €280 |
| 50+ hours | €354 | €336 |
Source: Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
If your child attends a full day, which usually means between 40 and 50 hours per week, the maximum a service can charge you is now €280. Before, it was €295 .
That is a reduction of €15 per week. Over a year, that is €780 before subsidies are even applied.
What You Actually Pay: The Real Numbers
Here is where it gets interesting. The cap is the maximum fee before your National Childcare Scheme subsidy is taken off.
Let us use the most common example: a full day place of 45 hours per week.
Under the old cap, a parent paying the maximum was charged €295 per week. With the universal NCS subsidy of €96.30, their out-of-pocket cost was €198.70 per week .
Under the new cap, the maximum charge is €280. With the same universal subsidy, the out-of-pocket cost drops to €183.70 per week .
That is a saving of €15 per week. Or €780 over a year. Just from the cap change alone.
If your child also qualifies for the free ECCE preschool programme, the fee drops even further. For a full day place, the co-payment after ECCE and NCS would be around €134 per week under the old rules . With the new cap, it would be lower still.
And if you qualify for an income-assessed subsidy, your savings are even bigger. The government has also raised the income thresholds for the NCS, so more families can get more money .
Why Are Only Some Parents Affected?
You might be reading this and thinking: “My fees are already lower than that. What about me?”
The honest answer is: this change does not affect you directly. Not yet.
The government estimates that about 12 percent of services will have to reduce at least one fee to comply with the new caps . That means roughly one in eight services is currently charging above the new limits.
The other seven out of eight services are already below the caps. Their fees stay the same. The fee freeze from 2021 still applies, so they cannot increase their fees either .
But here is the thing. The government has a bigger goal. It wants to reduce parental fees to a maximum of €200 per month over the lifetime of the current government . That is not €200 per week. That is €200 per month.
The new caps are a step toward that goal. But they are only one step. Phase 2 of the Early Years Action Plan, which runs from 2027 to 2029, will include more changes. There will be a public consultation later in 2026 to decide what those changes look like .
What About Services That Are Struggling?
This is the part that rarely makes the headlines.
Some childcare services are in a difficult position. They have been operating under a fee freeze since 2021. Their costs have gone up. Rent, insurance, electricity, wages – all of it. But they cannot charge parents more.
For services charging very low fees, this has become a real problem. Some are close to closing .
The government knows this. That is why it has introduced a Sustainability Review process. Services that charge the very lowest fees, below the regional median, can apply for permission to increase their fees. The increases are small. Between €3 and €18 per week, depending on the fee band .
But there is a catch. The increase cannot push their fees above the regional median for that band. And they have to get written approval from the Department first .
The government has also increased Core Funding to €480 million for the coming year. That is an extra €90 million compared to the current allocation . That money is there to help services cover their costs without passing the increase on to parents.
What Should You Do Now?
If you are paying the maximum fee at your service, check your bill in September. If your service was charging above the new caps, your fee should drop automatically. You do not need to apply for anything.
If you are not sure whether your service is in Core Funding, ask them. Most services are, but not all. If they are not in Core Funding, these caps do not apply to them. Their fees can be higher.
If your fees are already below the new caps, nothing changes for you. The freeze stays in place. Your fee stays the same.
And if you are struggling to pay for childcare, check whether you qualify for the National Childcare Scheme. The income thresholds went up in August 2026. You might be entitled to more than you think .
The government’s long-term goal is to get childcare fees down to €200 per month for every family. That is still a few years away. But the changes coming in September 2026 are a real step in that direction.
Early Years Ireland is an independent digital publication. We are not affiliated with any representative body or trade union. This article is for information only and does not constitute financial or legal advice. For personalised advice on your fees, contact your childcare provider directly.
