The Ancillary Services grant is intended to cater for the cost of secretarial and caretaking services. The regulations now in force for employing secretaries, as a result of the Fórsa/WRC agreement, can be found in Circular 0036/2022. Schools recruiting new secretaries should contact the Department of Education by completing their customer query form.
From 2026 the Ancillary Grant has increased from €173 per capita (full rate) to €175.60 and from €89.50 (reduced rate) to €90.80. Where a school secretary has moved to the Departments payroll under the terms of circular 0036/2022, these schools will have the ancillary grant due reduced to reflect the fact that schools are no longer paying these staff directly.
The grant is based on a minimum enrolment of 60 and a maximum of 500.
Special schools receive the grant based on the number of full-time teachers.