In January 2023, the Department of Education (DE) released guidance to Schools in Northern Ireland, clarifying their position regarding the need for registration of breakfast and afterschool provision with the Health and Social Care Trust (HSCT).
The Department of Education sited the following criteria for exemption:
"Registration is not required if pupils attending are (a) at least 12 years old or (b) The daily provision is two hours or less in total.
The Day Care (Exempt Supervised Activities) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 set out the supervised activities that are exempt from registration are those relating to – (a) uniformed organisations and religious activities for children; (b) leisure and recreational activities; (c) extra-curricular activities occurring in schools; and (d) activities designed to enhance a child’s skills and attainments, including dancing, and sports-related activities and educational tuition.
If day care provision does not fall within the categories above, the school may still be exempt from registration under the Order if only pupils enrolled in the school attend and the activity is provided as part of the school’s activities.
Registration is therefore not required for breakfast clubs, afterschools clubs, weekend or holiday clubs, literacy and numeracy support, sporting or other activities, emotional health and wellbeing support etc if these fall under one of the exemptions above. Such provision may be provided by the school or the school may have employed a third party to run the activity on school premises."
The guidance provided by the Department further clarifies that, charging parents for the provision does not have any impact on whether registration is required.
Since the release of the guidance from DE, it is become evident that a growing number of primary schools have introduced services such as afterschool provision which are negatively impacting existing, registered School Age Childcare services. PlayBoard continues to be concerned at these developments and is now seeking the views of registered School Age Childcare providers in order to ascertain the direct impact this having on their services.