Dear Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare provider,
We are pleased to advise that the 2025/26 Annual Early Years Sector Profile survey will be available on the Early Years Hive from Tuesday, 5 May until Tuesday, 26 May 2026.
The Annual Early Years Sector Profile:
- Has been running for 24 years.
- Is developed and administered by Pobal on behalf of the Department of Children, Disability and Equality (DCDE).
- Is the primary data source on the Irish Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age Childcare (SAC) sector.
- Provides a comprehensive national analysis of over 5,200 ELC and SAC services throughout Ireland.
By providing a snapshot of the key information about the sector at a point in time, the AEYSP plays a central role in monitoring trends in the sector, informing policy development and assessing the impact of policy change.
The AEYSP includes data collected from two main sources:
- Administrative data from the Service Profile on the Early Years Platform.
- Survey data from this questionnaire including enrolments, fees and staff retention and turnover.
This year, questions about staff have been removed from the survey. These questions are now asked in the Service Profile which is the sole source of data on staff currently employed in services.
- 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. Services are asked to ensure that their Service Profile has been updated on Hive on or after Friday, 1 May. This ensures that the most up to date information is included in the data collected for the Annual Early Years Sector Profile.
- While we encourage all services to complete the survey, the completion of this year’s survey within the open window is mandatory for all existing Core Funding Partner Services. As well as providing information about the sector, the survey captures data that will help monitor the impact of Core Funding.
- Guidance documentation and videos will be 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.
Kind regards,
Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare Division