Most of what this site covers works the same way: you find the scheme, you check whether you qualify, you apply. The sponsored referral is the one that runs backwards. A designated state body decides that childcare is part of what a family needs, refers the child, and the subsidy follows. There is no form for a parent to find, because there is no application for a parent to make.
It is written into the Childcare Support Act 2018, and it is worth knowing exists even if it never applies to you, because the people it is meant for are rarely the people reading about schemes.
The short version
- Who starts it
- One of five statutory bodies, never the parent
- Income test
- None. The family qualifies automatically once referred
- What you pay
- Nothing, and that includes meals, transport and registration
- Hours
- Recommended case by case, up to 45 a week
- How long
- Usually 52 weeks, up to 60 where it is needed
- The grounds
- Child welfare, child protection, family support, or the specific purpose each body is given
The five bodies that can refer a child
The Act names them, and each one can refer only for its own purpose. The detail of who qualifies is set by each body inside that purpose, through a formal agreement with the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality.
- The Child and Family Agency, Tusla. Where a childcare place is part of the care and family support it is providing, to promote the welfare of a child who needs additional care or protection.
- The HSE. Where there is an identified need for childcare as an additional support to the home environment, to meet a child's development needs. This one is narrower than the others: the child must be under 4, not enrolled in a state-funded pre-school programme, and would otherwise not attend a childcare service at all.
- Local authorities. For families who are homeless, or moving out of homelessness, within the meaning of the Housing Act 1988.
- The Minister for Education and Youth. To support parents who are under 18 to stay in education or training.
- The Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration. For applicants for international protection and programme refugees, so that parents or children can reach education, integration and other supports.
If one of those bodies is already working with your family, that is the person to ask. There is no central number for this and no form to download. The referral is made by a staff member the body has authorised to make them, and passed on by a designated contact inside that body. So the question goes to your Tusla social worker, your public health nurse, your local authority homeless services team, or whoever is already in the room, rather than to the National Childcare Scheme itself.
What it pays, and what nobody may charge you
The referring body recommends the hours the child needs, case by case, and the scheme pays a subsidy based on the hours actually used. The ceiling is 45 hours a week, the same for all five bodies, but what is recommended depends on the child rather than on the maximum.
The part worth reading twice is the charging rule, because it is stricter than anything else in the scheme. On a sponsored referral, the parent pays nothing, and neither does anyone else on their behalf. The guidelines rule out a contribution towards the cost, a deposit, and any charge for optional extras, meals, transport or registration. Where the ordinary subsidy comes off a bill and leaves a balance, here there is meant to be no bill.
So a request for a registration fee or a meals charge is not a small extra, it is outside the rules. If it comes up, it goes to the National Childcare Scheme Parent Support Centre or back to the body that made the referral, not into a negotiation with the provider.
How long a referral lasts
A sponsored referral generally runs for 52 weeks. It can be made for fewer where that is what is needed, and it can run to a maximum of 60 weeks where circumstances call for it. Each body's agreement also sets the ages of children it may refer, which is why the HSE route stops at 4 and the education route is defined by the parent's age rather than the child's.
If this route is not open to you
It is worth being plain: this is not a better version of the ordinary scheme that you can ask to be moved onto. It exists for defined circumstances, and outside them the route is the one everybody else uses, which is the National Childcare Scheme with its universal and income-assessed subsidies. If your income has fallen rather than your circumstances changing in the ways above, the sudden change assessment on that page is the thing to look at.
Who decides
The scheme belongs to the Department of Children, Disability and Equality and is administered by Pobal. The decision to refer belongs to the sponsor body, under criteria it sets within the purpose the Act gives it, so a refusal to refer is a question for that body and not for the scheme. Nothing on this page is a decision, and none of it is advice about your family's circumstances.
See your childcare steps alongside everything else
Answer a few questions and get your own plan: the registrations, the payments and the deadlines, in the order they happen, each linked to the official page it comes from. Free, no account, about three minutes.
Official sources
- National Childcare Scheme: the policy guidelines (PDF), chapter 14 (the five bodies, the grounds, the hours ceiling, the duration, and the rule that nothing may be charged)
- Citizens Information: National Childcare Scheme
- National Childcare Scheme: the official scheme website
Facts checked against the official pages and the scheme policy guidelines on 14 September 2026. This is general information, not legal advice, and it does not decide anything about your family. The decision to make a referral belongs to the sponsor body; the Department of Children, Disability and Equality owns the scheme and Pobal administers it. Criteria are set by each body and can change, so confirm with the body you are dealing with.