Publications

Submission to the Department of Education’s Consultation on the Early Learning and Childcare Strategy

2.10 The NIHRC recommends that the NI Executive, working with Department of Education, commits to adopting a human rights approach within the Early Learning and Childcare Strategy, including incorporation of a list of relevant human rights standards and ensures that the obligations flowing from these standards are reflected throughout the Strategy. The Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Strategic Framework 2024-2031 provides an example of how this can be achieved.

2.13 The NIHRC recommends that the NI Executive, working with the Department of Education, undertakes a detailed assessment of the draft Early Learning and Childcare Strategy to ensure compliance with Windsor Framework Article 2, including in relation to the EU Racial Equality Directive, the EU Reception Directive (2003) and the EU Qualification Directive (2004).

3.6 The NIHRC recommends that the NI Executive, working with the Department of Education, commits to regular engagement with children who do or are intended to benefit from childcare and early learning services as part of its monitoring and evaluation process for the Early Learning and Childcare Strategy. This engagement should be conducted in ways suitable for the child’s age and include children from minority groups such as, but not limited to, Traveller and Roma children, children from refugee and asylum-seeking families and children with disabilities.

3.15 The NIHRC recommends that the NI Executive, working with the Department for Education ensures that incremental rises in childcare costs by providers does not diminish or indeed defeat entirely the financial benefits of the NI Childcare Subsidy Scheme.

3.20 The NIHRC recommends that the NI Executive, working with the Department for Education, sets out short-term, medium-term and long-term actions to address barriers to affordability and accessibility of childcare provision for families in receipt of Universal Credit and Childcare Vouchers within the Early Learning and Childcare Strategy. These actions should be developed and implemented in meaningful consultation with recipients of the childcare element of Universal Credit and Childcare Vouchers as well as relevant representative organisations.

3.30 The NIHRC recommends that the NI Executive, working with the Department for Education, ensures that the expansion of services for Traveller and Roma children to include migrant children is considered carefully in light of the different experiences and needs of different children. This should be progressed alongside meaningful consultation with all affected communities.

3.31 The NIHRC recommends that the NI Executive, working with the Department for Education, ensures that services required to expand to meet the needs of children from distinct communities is provided with adequate, secure and ring-fenced funding.

3.33 The NIHRC recommends that the NI Executive, working with the Department of Education, considers the minimum standards for access to education for refugee children under the EU Qualification Directive (2004) and for asylum-seeking children guaranteed by the EU Reception Directive (2003) throughout this consultation process and in the development and implementation of the Early Learning and Childcare Strategy. This should include the monitoring of any relevant case law of the CJEU.

3.38 The NIHRC recommends that the NI Executive, working with the Department of Education, collects, collates and publishes regular, disaggregated data on the accessibility of childcare provision across NI, inclusive of black and minority ethnic children.

3.40 The NIHRC recommends that the NI Executive, working with the Department of Education, monitors any proposed changes by the EU to the EU Racial Equality Directive, including relevant case law of the CJEU, throughout this consultation process and in the development and implementation of the Early Learning and Childcare Strategy.

3.47 The NIHRC recommends that the NI Executive, working with the Department of Education, ensures that meaningful and effective consultation with people with disabilities, including children with disabilities, is embedded in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of relevant actions to address accessibility of early learning and childcare services in the Early Learning and Childcare Strategy.

3.52 The NIHRC recommends that the NI Executive, working with the Department of Education considers how its Early Learning and Childcare Strategy addresses intersectional discrimination in adherence with international human rights standards, inclusive of requirements under Windsor Framework Article 2.

3.59 The NIHRC recommends that the NI Executive, working with the Department of Education, commits within the Early Learning and Childcare Strategy to undertake and publish research on the contribution of unpaid, informal care arrangements in NI, with the view to consider the inclusion of actions to support persons involved in unpaid care arrangements within the Strategy.

4.4 The NIHRC recommends that the NI Executive, alongside the Department of Education, ensures that the Early Learning and Childcare Strategy is effectively funded to the maximum of its available resources and includes an express commitment to the principles of progressive realisation and non-retrogression.