Dear Service Provider,
Annual Early Years Sector Profile 2024/25 survey launch
We are pleased to advise that the Annual Early Years Sector Profile 2024/25 survey will be available on the Early Years Hive from 2pm today, Tuesday 6 May.
The survey is open until Tuesday 27 May 2025 is available here.
The Annual Early Years Sector Profile is:
• running for 23 years
• developed and administered by Pobal on behalf of the Department of Children, Disability and Equality (DCDE)
• the primary data source on the Irish Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age Childcare (SAC) sector
• a comprehensive national analysis of over 4,700 ELC and SAC services throughout Ireland
By providing a snapshot of the key information about the sector at a point in time, the survey plays a central role in monitoring trends in the sector, informing policy development and assessing the impact of policy change.
The Annual Early Years Sector Profile includes data from two main sources:
• administrative data from the Service Profile on the Early Years Platform, and
• the survey questionnaire which collects additional data which is not captured through the Service Profile e.g. enrolments, vacancies, and additional detail on staff.
It is important that the data in your Service Profile is up to date at the time of the Annual Early Years Sector Profile survey. Please make sure your Service Profile has been updated on the Early Years Hive on or after Friday 2 May. This make sure that the most up to date information is included in the data collected for Annual Early Years Sector Profile.
While we encourage all services to complete the survey, completing this year’s survey within the open window is mandatory for all existing Core Funding Partner Services. Services who wish to become a Core Funding Partner Service in the future, must also complete the survey before submitting their Core Funding application. The survey not only gives information about the sector, but it also collects data to monitor the impact of Core Funding on the sector.
Guidance documentation and training videos are available on the Early Years Hive to help you complete the survey. In addition, City and County Childcare Committees will be available to assist.
More information about the Annual Early Years Sector Profile and data published through interactive dashboards are available on the Early Learning and Childcare Data website.
Many thanks in advance for sharing this valuable information about your service.
Regards,
The Early Years Team