Your childcare rights: Northern Ireland

All children have the right to attend childcare and to have their needs met. This includes children with all types and levels of deafness. Understanding your legal rights can help you make sure that your child gets the support they need.

Knowing your rights and being able to voice them can be very empowering and can give you confidence that you're doing everything you can for your deaf child.

The law 

The law provides disabled children with many rights and protections. All permanently deaf children meet the definition of disability in the Special Educational Needs and Disability (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 and Disability Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 2006. 

This means that public bodies, including local authorities and childcare providers: 

• can’t discriminate against your child. In other words, a childcare provider can’t refuse to accept your child simply because they’re deaf. They also can’t treat your child less favourably than other children by, for example, not allowing them to do certain activities that other children are able to do 
• must make reasonable adjustments 
• must promote equality of opportunity for disabled children. 

Reasonable adjustments 

If your child is disadvantaged by something that an education or childcare setting does, and if there are any simple or inexpensive things that the setting can do to overcome this, they must do it. This is known as making ‘reasonable adjustments.’ 

Reasonable adjustments can include: 

• staff receiving training on how to use a radio aid 
• moving the reading corner to an area with good acoustics and lighting 
• adding soft pads or covers to table and chair legs to avoid scraping sounds 
• adding curtains or soft fabrics and cushions to open areas to reduce sound reverberation  
• whole setting training around deaf awareness and early communication for deaf children 
• using provided ‘auxiliary aids’, including radio aids. 

Most reasonable adjustments cost little or nothing and are relatively easy to put in place. You have an important role to play in letting the childcare facility know what steps they can take to support your child. 

What is reasonable will depend on the facility’s size and financial resources. It may be easier for the Education Authority or a large nursery to make a reasonable adjustment than it is for a small childminder. 

If you think you or your child have been discriminated against you can get advice and support on what to do next from the Equality Commission Northern Ireland (Equality NI). The Equality Commission Northern Ireland has more information on equality legislation, including guidance for employers, service providers and individuals. 

Special educational needs (SEN) 

The law aims to make sure that children with special educational needs (SEN) can achieve the best possible outcomes. This is laid out in the Special Educational Needs and Disability (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (Northern Ireland) 2016, although the 2016 Act is not in place yet.

Your child has SEN if they have, or are likely to have, much more difficulty in learning than other children of the same age. 

Most deaf children with SEN will be supported by their childcare setting. However, if a childcare setting can’t provide enough support themselves, you or the education professional can ask for a statutory assessment to see if a statement of SEN is needed. 

All nurseries, playgroups, pre-schools and registered childminders that are funded by the Education Authority must follow the laws set out in the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995. They must also follow guidance called the Code of practice on the identification and assessment of special educational needs (SEN) 2005. This means that nurseries should: 

• make sure that children with SEN have the greatest possible access to the curriculum 
• work in partnership with parents 
• know how to get further information and advice if they need it, including from Teachers of the Deaf (ToDs).

Find out more about SEN and additional support in early education and childcare.

Childcare legislation and guidance 

Under the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, local authorities must make sure there’s enough or ‘sufficient’ childcare in the area for parents of disabled children.  

The Education Authority must provide information to parents about childcare available in the area. 

Inspections 

The Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) inspects all Education Authority nursery schools. Find a nursery school’s inspection reports (ETINI). 

Nannies and home carers don’t have to be registered with ETI, though they can volunteer to do so. 

Childminders, day nurseries and playgroups, must be registered with and inspected by the Early Years Team in their local Health and Social Care Trust.  

Medical conditions 

Nurseries, pre-schools and childminders must take steps to make sure children with medical conditions get support to meet their medical needs. If your child has glue ear or another form of temporary hearing loss, this can be regarded as a medical condition. 

Read the guidance DENI Supporting pupils with medical needs. This guidance requires education settings to make sure that: 

• children with medical conditions are supported so that they have full access to education, including to physical education and school trips 
• staff receive appropriate training 
• there is someone in charge of how the school supports children with medical conditions 
• they have a policy that sets out how they will support children with medical conditions (this should be readily available). 

Find more information and resources about how your child’s medical needs should be supported in the early years and throughout their education (SEND Education Authority NI). 

Funding 

The Northern Irish government does not provide free childcare. However, they do run a pre-school education programme where every child should have at least one year of pre-school education funded. This applies to children whose third birthday is on or before 1 July of the year they could attend pre-school. Each provider will have its own admissions criteria.  

The Department of Education has more information about how you can apply for a place. 

Making a complaint 

If you have any concerns, try discussing it with the manager of the setting. In most cases, you should be able to resolve any problems with them directly. Depending on the type of childcare, they may have a complaints policy. 

If your child attends an Education Authority nursery and speaking to them directly doesn’t address your concern, your concern is urgent or your complaint is about the range of childcare services available in your area, you can contact the Education and Training Inspectorate directly.  

If you’re using a registered childminder, contact the childminder agency directly. If this doesn’t address your concern or your concern is urgent, you may wish to contact the Early Years teams in your area. You can also get advice from The Special Education