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Melted Parents NI, Belfast (2026)

06/10/2026

Parents, you’ve probably seen the news: from next September, the Republic of Ireland will cap monthly childcare fees at €550 (around £466) for providers receiving core state funding. It’s one step towards their overall goal of capping them at €200 (around £170) per month. It’s not perfect, but it proves one thing - it can be done.

Meanwhile in NI, the Executive just pours public funding into childcare through the NICSS, with no cap on what providers can charge - and fees keep climbing year after year.

It isn’t just about capping costs where they are now, it’s also about stopping them rising unchecked in the first place. Without both, families are stuck funding profit margins that grow faster than their wages.

The latest data from Early Years - the organisation for young children on the subsidy scheme shows private providers charging 18% more than non-profit providers - which raises the question of where exactly that subsidy money is ending up.

If public money is going into childcare, it has to come with real conditions - a cap and a plan to stop prices spiralling further. Otherwise, it’s not supporting families, it may just be lining the pockets of private, for-profit providers.👀

05/10/2026

Since when did “hardworking” only mean having a payslip?

This is Eibhlin. She’s a mum of one, she current receiving Universal Credit support, and she has two job offers waiting. She’s ready to start work… but what’s in her way.

A bit of context first, because most people don’t know this: if you’re on UC and working, or about to start, UC can cover up to 85% of your childcare costs. But it’s paid in arrears, and daycares ask for the money upfront. So there’s help available with that first payment, just to get through the door.

Eibhlin did everything right. She found a place, got the upfront help and lined up work. Then, just before her child was due to start, the nursery closed with no notice and went into liquidation. She’s been told the money’s gone. UC won’t help with a second advance. Instead, they’ve told her to pay upfront herself and claim it back, when she’s living on £249 a fortnight in Universal Credit, BEFORE any childcare support.

Meanwhile, her child’s pre-school has been shut indefinitely because of problems with the roof. The school found a church hall and set up classrooms. The EA refused it at the time.

So now she’s stuck choosing which job to turn down. Or both.

We hear a lot about the Deparment of Education supporting “hardworking families”. But that phrase does a lot of damage. It suggests the only parents who deserve childcare support are the ones already in work.

Eibhlin is working incredibly hard right now, juggling a collapsed daycare, a closed pre-school and two job offers she may have to turn down. So are parents who are carers, disabled, studying, or between jobs. None of them are any less deserving.

Childcare support shouldn’t be a reward for already being in work. It should be what helps families get there, or simply what children need.

If you’ve been through something similar, or know where Eibhlin could turn, please share in the comments 💜

28/09/2026

Back in August, we shared how children born in July or August were losing Tax-Free Childcare, and with it NICSS, the moment they turned 11, despite still being in P7. Families were left scrambling to cover childcare for a full school year with no support.

This should never have been a problem in the first place - when the NICSS was extended to primary-age children, P7 should have been covered from day one, no matter what month a child was born in. A simple check of how the school year works in NI would have flagged it.

Instead, parents had to raise it, write in and wait over a year for a fix to something that should have been built into the scheme from the start.

Thank you to every parent who spoke up - you shouldn’t have had to, but you did, and it made a difference. ✊

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Paul Givan Department of Education NI, if you want to get childcare support right, listen to the lived experience of NI families and childcare providers. We’re the ones living with these gaps every day, and we can tell you where they are before they become a problem.

10/09/2026

Dear parents,

We know many of you have been following the news this week about the Minister’s plan to remove the Social Disadvantage Criterion from pre-school admissions and we understand why some of you might welcome it. If you’ve missed out on your first-choice pre-school place or worried you might, this could feel like a policy that’s finally on your side.

We want to be honest with you: we empathise completely. We are all struggling with the Early Education and Childcare crisis, but we don’t think this policy actually
helps and we think it’s important that we explain why.

The reason the pre-school admissions system isn’t working well for families isn’t the SDC criterion, it’s that the Department has failed to deliver universal full-time early years education for everyone. Instead of fixing the root problem, the Minister is stripping away one of the only real supports in place for children from low income families, and dressing it up as help for ‘hardworkingparents.’

We think that framing is unfair and discriminatory.

Many parents on benefits are working too, often in low-paid jobs, and many more aren’tworking because they can’t, due to caring responsibilities, disability, unemployment or thesimple fact that childcare costs make workingimpossible - something many of you will relate to. Suggesting that parents on benefits aren’t hardworking isn’t just inaccurate, it’s an insultto families already doing everything they can in difficult circumstances.
But we also have to be clear: this policy isn’t about parents versus parents, it’s about children.

Evidence shows that children from low incomehouseholds already start school behind theirpeers, a gap that only widens as they movethrough the system. Removing this protectionnow, before full-time provision is genuinelyuniversal for every child, doesn’t level the playing field, it does the opposite.
The truth is that the Department is failing all of us by not delivering a genuinely universal system and by doing nothing to stop the rising cost of childcare. Pitting families against each other over a handful of admission places distracts from that failure, it doesn’t fix it.

We’ll be sharing a more detailed post soonsetting out exactly why we believe this policy isthe wrong answer, and what we think shouldhappen instead.

For now, we just ask that you look past the headline and consider who this decision will actually affect most: 3 and 4 year old children who don't have a voice, who don't have a vote and who don't have a choice.
Their families are socially disadvantaged because they’re facing health, care or financial vulnerabilities.

With solidarity,

Melted Parents

31/08/2026

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭.

Tax Free Childcare is aligned to English school dates. Eligibility ends on 1st September following the child's 11th birthday.

So for some families with children only starting P7 they lose access to TFC and the NI Childcare Subsidy Scheme as this relies on TFC registration.

I raised this with the Finance and Education Ministers and through the Education Committee early in the year. The latest update from the Education Minister is below and still no progress on finding a solution.

While the Tax Free Childcare scheme operates through the UK Government, the Education Department operate the NICSS therefore surely there can be a workaround for those families impacted.

I will continue to advocate on this.

31/08/2026

How is your bank holiday weekend going?

We’re guessing better than Faith’s, and the other parents from her child’s school, who were left scrambling for wraparound care after an email at 4:10 on Friday from the provider - letting them know the confirmed wraparound care wouldn’t be going ahead after all, due to not enough parents signing up.

Parents had already confirmed their days, received invoices and been set up on the provider’s app. The service was due to start on Tuesday… Instead, families were given less than half a working day’s notice and were simply directed to email the provider with questions.

We understand a business can’t run if it isn’t financially viable, but this is an established and experienced company not a small provider starting up. Pulling out this late, this close to a bank holiday, with zero accountability isn’t a viable-numbers problem: it’s a planning and communication failure that lands squarely on parents.

And sadly, this is a real risk in a childcare sector that runs on profit margins.

Faith and other affected families are now left with no childcare and no time to arrange anything else. If this has happened to you too, we want to hear from you. 👇

05/08/2026

This week our inbox got busy with yet another issue NI parents face: children born in July or August lose their Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) eligibility the moment they turn 11 - and consequently lose NICSS too - even though they’re only going into P7 and plenty of families still need that childcare, whether it’s an after-school club or a childminder.

Swipe back through the last 4 slides and you’ll see the Executive knows about this. The first letter on record dates back to February, but it’s now August and nothing’s changed.

Are we even surprised?🫠

We get that TFC is a UK-wide scheme run by HMRC. But NICSS is a local programme, and this issue should’ve been flagged the moment it was designed - there should be a fix for NI families regardless of what happens with TFC.

And considering TFC launched back in 2017, it’s honestly wild that it’s taken nearly a decade for our Executive to notice this and start talking to HMRC about it.

This is also a cross departmental issue, involving the Department of Education NI, the Department of Finance and HMRC. From what we can see, there’s no clear sign of these departments working together to actually fix it - and parents shouldn’t be the ones caught in the middle while responsibility gets passed around.

This needs sorted now - but while these parents are dealing with yet another added stress, our Executive is on a two month summer recess.🤷‍♀️

Also, this is another group of parents falling through the cracks of a childcare strategy that’s meant to work for them.

30/07/2026

Another small provider has closed its doors - leaving families scrambling with days’ notice and staff going unemployed.

Childcare is called “a priority” in every press release, but when parents ask their MLA for help, suddenly it’s “a private business matter, nothing to do with us.”

Imagine that response from the people meant to be running the Executive?🫠

This isn’t a one-off - this is what happens when childcare is treated as a private problem instead of public infrastructure.

We hope our Executive are enjoying their summer break - unfortunately Taryn, the other parents from her nursery, the suddenly unemployed staff and the struggling owner sure aren’t.

26/06/2026

Happy Friday everyone - or not 🫠

Pamela messaged us about her eligibility for Tax-Free Childcare - but the reality is that this situation will also affect her family’s eligibility for the Subsidy Scheme.

And this is exactly the kind of family we talk about every time we discuss the NICSS. Department of Education NI says that the scheme supports ‘hardworking families’ but there’s no shortage of families that fall through the cracks, like Pamela’s - and can you honestly say they are not ‘hardworking’?

The NICSS needs to support ALL families - hardworking families in every sense of the word.

And before anyone suggests the UC route - used by so many other hardworking families - it would take 5 weeks to process with costs still due upfront. 🫠

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? Did you find a way through? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.

In the meantime, we’d advise Pamela to reach out to Advice NI or the Employers for Childcare helpline for guidance on her options.

And it’s worth noting - everything we’ve said here applies to Tax-Free Childcare too, and it’s something we’ve already raised with our local MPs.

25/06/2026

A little over two years ago, the NI Childcare Subsidy Scheme was first announced - shortly after the Executive was restored and childcare was named a day one priority.

You’d expect real progress by now, right? Well, Kathryn’s message says it all…

As Stormont heads into their annual two-month summer recess next week, here’s what was delivered:

👉 A Childcare Strategy that went to consultation - and never came back with a final plan.
👉 A proposal to increase the NICSS subsidy from 15% to 20% from April 2026 - never happened.
👉 Childcare bills that are higher now than before the subsidy even existed.

And the list goes on…

Kathryn is paying £981 a month for summer childcare in 2026. She paid £838 in 2024 - before NICSS was even implemented.

Must be nice to have a summer break.🫠

Melted Parents NI

06/10/2026

05/10/2026

28/09/2026

10/09/2026

31/08/2026

31/08/2026

05/08/2026

30/07/2026

26/06/2026

25/06/2026

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