Debate contribution: Preschool Admissions: Socially Disadvantaged Circumstances Criterion

Debate contribution by Mr Paul Givan on 7 September 2026.

MLA: Mr Paul Givan
Party at the time: Democratic Unionist Party
Date: 7 September 2026
Type: Debate contribution (made as a minister)
Business: Ministerial Statement
Heading: Preschool Admissions: Socially Disadvantaged Circumstances Criterion
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5669673

Text

Since taking office in February 2024, my approach has been characterised by three simple ambitions: excellence in education, choice for parents and a fair deal for hard-working families. By this stage, Members will no doubt be familiar with my educational reform plan, which is grounded in evidence and informed by international best practice, known as TransformED. In a few weeks, I will set out my ambition to organise the education system based on the choices of parents and children, not bureaucratic structures. Today, however, I will set out some of what I have been doing to help out the hard-working families who are the bedrock of our community and announce an important next step. Too often, they are overlooked, ignored or taken for granted. They do not complain or make a fuss, but I know that they are the ones who raise their families, pay their taxes and meet their mortgages. In my constituency and in my mailbox, I hear their concerns. I have already responded with practical support, but I intend to do more.
When the Executive were restored in February 2024, "early learning and childcare" was widely regarded by parties across the House as being a priority. It was an early example of how devolution could make a difference to the real lives of real people. With the support of Executive colleagues, I brought forward a range of measures to revolutionise early years and childcare provision in Northern Ireland. Although it is only a start, in a constrained financial environment, I believe that we are beginning to make a real difference. Amid all the challenges and difficulties that are being faced, and with sustained investment, I believe that TransformED will stand the test of time as one of the signature achievements of the Executive during this Assembly term. There are those who oppose devolution or, at the very least, whose approach would end any form of devolution that is reasonably available, but be in no doubt that, in the absence of devolution, none of the progress that has been made in providing increased early learning, education and childcare support to thousands of families across Northern Ireland would have been achieved. Exceptional civil servants have delivered those changes, but, in the absence of Ministers, they would not have been empowered to do so. That is not speculation but an empirical fact. In the coming weeks, the Executive will consider a final early learning and childcare strategy, but, in reality, that will be to confirm a direction of travel on which we have long since commenced. Between April 2024 and March 2026, the Executive allocated £80 million of additional funding to deliver on those measures, which are making a tangible difference for thousands of children, families and providers across Northern Ireland. The measures include the design and implementation of a bespoke Northern Ireland childcare subsidy scheme (NICSS), which has secured over £26·4 million in savings for eligible working parents since its launch in September 2024. When that is combined with tax-free childcare, the savings for families are estimated at approximately £55·6 million. I will give an example of what that has meant in practice. A family claiming the full subsidy for two children who are below primary-school age will have saved just under £8,800 since the scheme was introduced — that is £8,800 that those families would otherwise have had to pay out in fees. As a direct result of the action that we have taken, they have been able to retain and use that money for other purposes. When combined with tax-free childcare, their childcare bills over the period will have been reduced by an estimated £16,800. It is a significant achievement that the Executive have been able to ease the financial pressure on working families to that extent in just two years, and at a time when many other costs have been rising. In 2025-26 alone, the subsidy scheme supported 27,486 children from 20,210 families. Eligible families could receive a subsidy of up to £184 per child — over £2,200 per child per year — with no limit on the number of children whom that can be claimed for. Analysis of the NICSS data indicates that only 2·7% of claims reached the maximum monthly subsidy, which confirms that the majority of families continue to receive the 15% reduction available on the full value of the childcare costs, rather than being constrained by the cap. It is also worth pointing out the extent to which the scheme has specifically benefited working families on low and middle incomes. It is further evidence of my commitment to target hard-working families, often where both parents are working in average-income jobs but still struggling with the various financial demands of bringing up young children. In addition to the Northern Ireland childcare subsidy scheme, I have strengthened the support provided to thousands of families through established and highly respected programmes such as Sure Start and the Pathway fund. That investment is enabling over 9,000 additional children across Northern Ireland who have not previously had access to the programmes to benefit from high-quality early learning, health and family support. Building on the policy set out by my predecessor, Michelle McIlveen, we have made huge progress in moving towards a universal full-time preschool education offer. It will ensure that all children, regardless of their background or where they live, will be able to access 22·5 hours of structured age-appropriate education, learning and development in the year before they start school. Preschools are starting the new academic year as we meet here today, and I am delighted to confirm that the latest Education Authority (EA) data indicates that over 65% of pupils will have the benefit of a full-time preschool education place; that compares with just 40% only two years ago. The Executive have committed to delivering preschool education as a universal offer, and my work to do so continues at pace. Members will be aware of the significant benefits that families are reporting from full-time provision. We can see how popular it is, with settings that moved to the longer day in the first year having received, on average, a 300% increase in applications. The work to transition all preschool provision to 22·5 hours must be prioritised; it is too important to children and their families to risk losing momentum. I have, therefore, tasked my Department and the EA to progress standardisation for approximately 100 more settings, so that even more children can benefit from full-time provision next year. The speed of standardisation will be largely dictated by the resources that are made available to me by the Executive, as well as by the state of readiness of individual settings.
My Department recently consulted on the draft early learning and childcare strategy, which contained a wide range of actions to further progress the Executive's priorities in that area. In addition to the core objective of providing a universal, full-time preschool education offer, the early learning and childcare strategy includes other preschool education actions, such as consulting on legislative changes to remove the current statutory admissions criterion that prioritises children from socially disadvantaged circumstances (SDC) when applying for funded preschool education places during the preschool admissions process. The SDC criterion was first introduced in 1998 to prioritise access to a limited preschool programme for children deemed likely to benefit from it most. At that time, there were only enough funded preschool education places available for approximately 45% of children, meaning that more than half our children could not access any funded preschool provision at all. Back then, the criterion was an important intervention that maximised access for children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. That was nearly 30 years ago. The context today is very different. Following the expansion of provision, all children have been able to access some preschool education provision for more than a decade. There is therefore no longer a need for a law to prioritise children for access because there are enough funded places in every area of Northern Ireland to accommodate every target-age child whose parents want a funded preschool place. There have been numerous consultations about the SDC criterion, and they have all told us the same thing: it is no longer fit for purpose. There have been calls for more than 20 years for it to be amended or repealed. Many parents, preschool education practitioners and elected representatives from across the Assembly have been clear. The legislation is now outdated, unnecessary and unfair, and I believe that it should go. Most recently, consultees who commented on the SDC action in the early learning and childcare consultation, which closed in March, gave a very clear response: change is long overdue, and the current legislative requirement should be removed without further delay. Today, I can confirm that my Department has listened and will respond positively to those comments. The current legislative requirements will be removed in line with the outcome of previous consultations. That will place preschools on an equal footing with primary and post-primary schools. The change is not about removing protections for disadvantaged children; it is about removing outdated provisions to ensure that children at preschool age have fair access to education provision, just as they do at primary and post-primary age. Many parents have made clear that they consider the continued imposition of a blanket statutory criterion to be wholly unfair. It is no longer needed to prioritise access, but its continued use unfairly decreases their chances of securing their first-preference setting, including full-time places, which can, in turn, impact on their childcare arrangements. Parents and preschools in various localities have raised the case for children from other circumstances to be given top priority in their area, but that cannot be done due to the current legislation. Elected representatives from across the Assembly have written to me on many occasions on behalf of preschools and families of preschool children who are frustrated at the unintended consequences of the current outdated legislation. Many feel that local children, children of working families, particularly low-paid families, and children who are looked after or who face other barriers to learning that are not reflected in the SDC criterion, are disadvantaged by the current legislation. A small number of stakeholders have previously suggested that there may be some benefit in maintaining a priority for children from socially disadvantaged circumstances in certain cases. I am open to considering how that could be achieved, but it would be done in a tailored way if evidence could be presented to support it. The consultation that I am launching today will seek views on whether the present regulations should simply be repealed or whether new, fit-for-purpose legislation is required. However, it is important to understand that we do not need new legislation to permit settings to prioritise disadvantaged children. Without it, they would have the same power that primary and post-primary schools have to set their own criteria, with the benefit of guidance from my Department. This means that they can prioritise children in a way that best reflects the children and communities whom they serve. My Department is therefore consulting on potential next steps. That is an important part of the process to ensure that the preschool admissions process is the best that it can be. I ask that Executive colleagues, particularly those who have previously written to me on the issue, respond to that consultation and provide their views and those of their constituents. Responses are welcome from all stakeholders and interested parties, particularly parents and carers, early-years sectoral bodies and providers of preschool education, including nursery schools, primary schools with nursery units, and voluntary and private preschool education settings that participate in the preschool education programme. Subject to the outcome of the consultation, which will launch this week, and the legislative process, it is the Department's intention to repeal the current outdated provisions and, if necessary, put in place replacement legislation and/or guidance prior to the commencement of the preschool admissions process in January 2028. However, in advance of the consultation, I intend to take one further significant step today. The impact of ongoing welfare reforms over the three decades means that the benefits that are referenced in the socially disadvantaged criteria legislation have been almost entirely replaced and phased out, leaving the Education Authority reliant on reading in new welfare payments, such as universal credit, that did not exist when the legislation was written. After careful consideration, I have concluded that that is no longer a legally permissible approach. In the preparation of the consultation, it has become clear that we are, in practice, imposing criteria that are not provided for in legislation. Setting aside the intrinsic merits of such an approach, it is not consistent with the prevailing legislation. Universal credit is a significantly wider welfare payment than those that are named in the legislation. In 2019-2020, around 15% of children's preschool applications indicated that they met the SDC criterion. This year, that figure was more than double at almost 36%. That significantly changes the priority criteria to the point that it is no longer possible to properly target those for whom they were originally intended. The current approach is not legally sustainable and must now be changed. Therefore, today, I am writing to the Education Authority and all preschool providers to make clear that, pending any amendment to the regulations, for the admissions process for the academic year beginning in September 2027, the only SDC criteria that must be applied relate to those who are in receipt of the benefits that are specifically named in the legislation: income support or income-based jobseeker's allowance. As those benefits have almost completely been phased out or superseded, I expect that that will apply to a negligible number of applications next year. This approach will essentially place preschools on an equal footing with primary and post-primary schools, empowering them to select admissions criteria that best reflect their individual settings and the communities that they serve. This is not a mere tinkering with admissions criteria; it is a fundamental change of approach. In the past few years, we have come a long way with early learning and childcare, yet we are still in the foothills of what we hope to ultimately deliver for the people of Northern Ireland, as set out in the draft early learning and childcare strategy. Building on the progress that we have made, this consultation will allow for renewed focus on what we want to achieve moving forward. For my part, I am clear: I want to ensure that working families have a fair chance at securing the preschool setting of their choice. We cannot guarantee that they will all get the one that they want, although I am working on that, but we can ensure that the odds are not stacked against them. Today, we launch a consultation on what admissions criteria preschool settings should apply. More importantly, however, we realign practice with the law that governs admissions. Hard-working families make this country what it is. Today, I stand with them, acting to ensure that their hard work is not disadvantaged and that they, along with all families, are properly supported to have fair access to preschool education for their children. I commend the statement to the House.
I thank the Member for the question. The rationale was clearly outlined in my statement to the Assembly today. First, it is about ensuring that admissions are based on the actual legislation, and it is important that we align the law on those things with the implementation of it. We are also in a very different place from where we were in 1998-99 when we brought the criterion in, when less than half of all children in Northern Ireland had a paid preschool place. Such places are now universally available. When I took office, only 40% of children were getting a full-time place. Now, because of delivery, 65% of all children are getting a full-time place. We are applying to our nursery schools the same process as applies to our primary schools and post-primary schools, where that criterion does not exist. Nursery schools will be able to reflect their local circumstances. If a preschool setting in the Member's constituency decides that it wishes to make the number-one criterion something relating to people who are in receipt of a much wider range of benefits, that decision will be available to it. If a nursery setting wishes to disadvantage hard-working families in its local community, it can do that. However, we should not have a blanket approach that, in the last consultation, over 70% of respondents said was unfair and should go. Today, I am delivering on that commitment.
A priority for me is to enhance the support that we have in all our preschool settings. It is why, in the early learning strategy, for which I secured funding from the Executive, we have enhanced provision in preschool settings, particularly for children who have additional needs. Often, because of the process of needing an assessment to get support, those children go through nursery school without support. I have been able to put funding into every single preschool setting so that they can provide support for those children. The Member needs to be honest with the public. Constituents from hard-working families may come to you — it is a notable concern now that the Alliance Party is making clear its position — and ask, "Why can I not access a nursery facility in my local community? Why, because I work and am not in receipt of benefits, am I being discriminated against and disadvantaged?". That is what constituents say in Moira, Hillsborough and right across the Lagan Valley constituency, and they will be very interested to hear that the Alliance Party wants to continue a discriminatory practice against hard-working families. I will not support that practice, but I will support every single child getting the best possible support in our education system, including in preschool settings. That is why I increased funding for Sure Start and why 9,000 children, particularly from more disadvantaged communities, have greater access to that support. Today's statement is about making sure that those who are struggling to make ends meet and are working incredibly hard are not disadvantaged because they work. They should be treated equally.
In response to the previous question, I mentioned children with additional needs and the support that I have put into nursery settings. Interestingly, the Member raises a concern. He is from West Belfast. His colleague Órlaithí Flynn raised a concern with me earlier this year.
Let me quote from a letter that was sent by Mr Baker's colleague, the Sinn Féin Member for West Belfast. In that letter, she says:
"There is growing concern that the current approach may be unfairly disadvantaging local children".
That was in respect of the social disadvantage criterion — that it was unfairly disadvantaging her constituents in West Belfast.
Perhaps the Member should have a word with his colleague, who was asking me to do exactly what I have now announced. The Member seems to be concerned about my taking decisions and getting on with delivering for my constituents. I note that not one other Minister in the Assembly today is bringing forward decisions that will help to deliver. Sinn Féin's track record on delivery — the A5, Casement, Magee university, and the list goes on — is one that it should rightly be embarrassed about. On the part of the DUP and me, we will continue to deliver for the hard-working people of Northern Ireland.
I thank Mr Martin for that question. I mentioned in my statement the percentage of pupils who were eligible for priority in respect of the SDC arrangement, but it is worth repeating. The priority was to give access to a limited number of places when there were enough for only 45% of children. While that need for priority has disappeared, the number of children who have been prioritised has increased. Although the Education Authority does not hold the data for the number of children who met the criterion when it was first introduced, we know that, in the admissions process for the 2019-2020 academic year, around 15% of applications were processed on the basis of the socially disadvantaged criterion. During the process for this academic year, because of the evolution and expansive nature of welfare reforms and the way in which they have been wrongly read in, 36% of applications met the socially disadvantaged circumstances criterion. That is why hard-working people in their communities feel aggrieved that they have not been able to access settings because some people who are not from their local community have been able to trump local applicants on the basis of that criterion. That number of people has expanded, and that is why we need to change that. On the basis of this year's figure and what has been announced today, the number of applicants whom, we believe, will meet the socially disadvantaged criterion will be 27, accounting for 0·4% of the total of preschool applications.
There are significant supports in place for people who find themselves socially disadvantaged. I support many of them in my constituency, including many who vote for me, to get access to all that support. Today is not about taking something away but about ensuring equality for all children. Constituents come to me, and those who are just about breaking even but do not qualify for any benefit are rightly aggrieved that they have not been able to access their local setting or to get a full-time place on the basis of outdated, discriminatory legislation that referenced particular benefits.
People see this as being the right thing to do, particularly given that the circumstances have changed dramatically. Now, 100% of all preschool places in nursery settings are funded. Everyone who wants to have a funded place in a preschool setting can have that provided. In 1998, the number of funded places was less than half, so even if there may have been a case for the criterion at the time, the circumstances have since changed fundamentally. What we should not allow is for those hard-working families who make this country what it is to be further disadvantaged.
Members will be able to look back over the steps that I have been taking over the past two years to address disadvantage and underachievement and see where their communities have qualified under the RAISE programme to raise educational attainment and the funding that goes into that programme. There are significant amounts of funding for which I am under severe pressure around the Executive table. When we look at extended-schools funding, for example, millions of pounds go to schools based on free school meals provision. I am having to fight every single day with Executive colleagues, including those from Sinn Féin, when it comes to our education system, so if they want to support me when it comes to prioritising those who need more support, they will have to back it up with funding. This week, I have already met the Secretary of State and spelled out to him the underfunding of the Executive and the impact that that has on my Department. I trust that, collectively, we will all make the case to get more resources so that we can help the very people whom Mr Sheehan and I want to help.
I appreciate the Member's asking that question. There have been a number of consultations. From December 2025 to March 2026, there was the consultation on the draft Executive early learning and childcare strategy. That draft strategy went through the Executive for consultation. Perhaps Ministers did not know what they were putting through the Executive, but in that consultation was this very proposal to remove the criterion. The last time that I checked, the Alliance Party is on the Executive. So is Sinn Féin. When the strategy went through the Executive, it was therefore consulted on for the criterion to be removed. That is the direction of travel. The fact is that, in doing the work in preparation for the consultation, I was able to identify that the legislative basis for the current policy is flawed. That has allowed me to make this decision today. Beyond that, however, there was, in 2021, a specific consultation on the criterion, and 70·7% of respondents asked for its immediate removal, because of the reasons that I have outlined. Members here are opposed to its removal, but on what evidence? The evidence shows that it is no longer necessary and that the public believe that it should be removed, yet in here we have criticism coming. Is it purely in order to score political points? I suggest that it is, particularly when Órlaithí Flynn, a Member for Sinn Féin in West Belfast, put it in writing that she wanted me to do this. The evidence shows that I am on the side of where the public are at on this particular issue. There were also reviews in 2011 and back in 2004 on the matter. The issue has therefore been well consulted on, and the decision will be well received by the overwhelming majority in the country.
The Member highlights the fact that she, too, hears from constituents about the issues. I actually take decisions that address those concerns: that is the difference between the Member and me. The constituents who raise those concerns with her and my colleagues in Lagan Valley also raise with me the discrimination and disadvantage that they feel as hard-working people, but I listen and then I act. That is what I am doing today. The Member invites me to preside over an admissions process that has now been identified as legally flawed. That, in effect, is what the Member is asking me to do. It is incumbent on Ministers to respond positively when they get clear legal advice on such issues that the legislation has been read in a way that is no longer legally defensible, as, I suspect, all Ministers would. I will not continue to preside over what is, in effect, an illegal process; I am aligning the practice with the law. The Member is absolutely right that, as of today, the admissions policy has changed.
That is exactly what I have been doing for the past two years. While Sinn Féin Ministers have presided over inertia and done nothing of any great meaning in their Departments for the people of Northern Ireland, I have acted on a series of education reforms. I have put in place funding particularly for those from more disadvantaged backgrounds and increased access to Sure Start and the Pathway fund. I have been able to put in additional support for all those things in schools. What I will not do — I am glad that the Member for West Belfast Órlaith Flynn is now here — is to allow — .
Apologies, I take that back. I will not preside over discrimination against hard-working families. It is notable that parties in the Chamber — Sinn Féin and the Alliance Party — have indicated that they want to continue a practice under which those who struggle to just about get by are disadvantaged. Those people have a right to have their children in a full-time nursery setting, just like anybody else. They should not, on the basis of that criterion, have that right dislocated and trumped, often by people who are not even from their local community. It is a discriminatory criterion. I am for equality, and that is why the decision has been taken.

4,605 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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