Northern Ireland: NICSS on your invoices, and the adults & visitor register
Apply the 15% NICSS reduction properly — sibling discounts first, all five required elements on the invoice, a monthly claim export — and keep the adults-present and visitor register your Trust expects.
4 min read
MinderHQ speaks Northern Ireland
If you picked "Northern Ireland (HSC Trust)" when you signed up, your workspace already works to NI's rulebook: your Trust, certificate number and capacity conditions on record, the learning journal on CCEA's six Areas of Learning (clearly badged non-statutory), NI's ratio rules — including the 9 November 2026 change, ready in advance — and a Trust inspection pack on the inspection-day card.
This guide covers the money feature — NICSS — and the register additions your Trust looks for.
Turn on NICSS for a child
The Northern Ireland Childcare Subsidy Scheme works through your invoices: you apply a 15% reduction to the parent's bill and reclaim it monthly from Early Years. Every NICSS invoice must show five things — the child's name, their Tax-Free Childcare number, the amount before the reduction, the reduction itself, and the new amount payable. MinderHQ renders all five on every NICSS invoice, and applies any sibling discount first, as the scheme requires.
- 1Open the child's record and find "Northern Ireland school-age and NICSS settings".
- 2Turn NICSS on for the child and add their Tax-Free Childcare number (it looks like TFC 1100012345678).
- 3Invoice as normal — the 15% reduction appears as its own line with all five required elements in place.
Tip: The scheme caps how much reduction each child can get per month, and the caps are date-aware (they rose on 1 April 2026, to £203 — or £406 where Early Years has confirmed the higher disability cap). MinderHQ warns you when a month's reduction would go over — the parent keeps the full 15% either way, so anything above the cap isn't reimbursed by the scheme: absorb it, or agree the difference with the parent.
Claim it back each month
Early Years reimburses the discounts you've applied — you claim monthly through their provider portal, and MinderHQ builds the figures.
- 1In "Money", find "Monthly NICSS claim export" and pick the month.
- 2Tap "Build claim summary" — you'll see the totals before reduction, the reductions and the new payable amounts, per child.
- 3Download the CSV, then use "Open Early Years NICSS provider page" to file the claim with the same figures.
Adults present and the visitor register
In Northern Ireland your register should evidence the adults in the setting, not just the children. MinderHQ keeps this beside your daily register so it's a ten-second habit, not a separate book.
- 1Open "Adults present & visitor register" next to your register.
- 2Note the adults in the setting each day — you, an assistant, a student.
- 3Log visitors as they arrive — name, date and a vetting-status note — and check them out when they leave.
Quick answers
Do sibling discounts come before or after the 15%?
Before — the scheme requires sibling discounts to be applied first, then the 15% reduction on what's left. MinderHQ orders it that way automatically.
Where are my funded hours?
Northern Ireland's pre-school programme doesn't include childminders, so there are no funded hours to invoice — NICSS is the scheme that matters for childminders, and it's built in.
What happens to ratios in November 2026?
The limits change on 9 November 2026, and MinderHQ already knows both rule sets — it switches on the day, NI's own school-age rules included, and your certificate's conditions always cap the numbers below the standard limits.