Canada-Ontario early years and child care agreement

Overview

The Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system will:

• give families access to more affordable and high-quality child care options
• help lower child care fees for parents or guardians of children under the age of 6
• increase child care spaces
• support the child care workforce
• support inclusive child care

Licensed child care providers can participate in the CWELCC system to help reduce fees. Licensed child care providers must tell parents and guardians whether the program is enrolled in the CWELCC system through their parent handbook.

If your licensed child care provider is not enrolled, your fees will not be reduced.

As a parent or guardian of a child under the age of 6, you do not need to apply to get a fee reduction.

Accomplishments to date

• 92%
  licensed child care spaces for children aged 0-5 in CWELCC-enrolled programs as of Dec. 2023
• 50%
  reduction in child care fees, on average, from 2020 levels for children aged 0-5 in CWELCC-enrolled programs
• $366.5M
  funding allocated to support Start-up Grants for child care providers
• 20,500
  new, affordable child care spaces as of Dec. 2023, with about 65,000 more to be created by the end of 2026 (86,000 total)

Ontario's action plan

The agreement focuses on 5 key pillars:

• lowering fees
• increasing access
• enhancing high-quality child care
• supporting inclusion
• enhancing data and reporting

Lowering fees

To ensure child care is more affordable for families, we are lowering average fees for CWELCC-enrolled licensed child care programs through a phased approach:

1. Reduced child care fees by up to 25% for children under the age of 6, retroactive to April 1, 2022.
2. Effective December 31, 2022, further reduced child care fees up to 37% bringing the provincial average fee to $23 per day (50% of 2020 fees).
3. By March 2026, lower licensed child care fees to an average of $10 per day.

Increasing access

To provide families with more child care options and address increasing demand for child care, we are:

• creating approximately 86,000 new licensed child care spaces by the end of 2026
• supporting expansion of new child care spaces in geographic areas and diverse communities where they are needed most (for example, children with special needs, Indigenous and Francophone communities)

Enhancing quality

To ensure families have access to high-quality licensed child care, we are:

• improving compensation for low-wage Registered Early Childhood Educators working with children up to age 12 in licensed child care
• implementing a workforce strategy to support RECEs employed by CWELCC-enrolled child care providers and a multipronged strategy to better support the recruitment and retention of qualified professionals and professional learning supports for child care and early years staff.

Supporting inclusion

To support the needs of diverse communities and populations, we have engaged with a broad range of partners to:

• ensure space expansion plans and all child care and early years programs are designed to support the needs of vulnerable and diverse populations in your communities (such as Indigenous, Francophone, Black and other racialized groups, newcomers, low-income families and children with special needs)
• gather data and assess the barriers to access for children of diverse populations and children with varying abilities
• update Ontario’s Access and Inclusion Framework, which supports service system managers in developing and implementing local service plans with an increased focus on access as it relates to inclusion
  • this includes identifying their priority neighbourhoods and/or priority populations for space creation under CWELCC

Enhanced data and reporting

To monitor our progress and support families, we will:

• use evidence-based data to evaluate and improve how the child care system supports children and families
• report regularly on our progress toward meeting federal requirements using enhanced data collection and analytics capabilities

What this means for families

Parents or guardians of children under the age of 6 do not have to apply to receive a child care fee reduction.

You may be eligible for reduced fees if:

• you pay more than $12 per day for child care and your child:
  • is under the age of 6
  • turns 6 years old and is enrolled in a licensed preschool, kindergarten or family age group or a licensed home child care premises, until June 30
• your licensed child care provider is enrolled in the CWELCC system

The amount that you will save depends on the child care provider charges and may vary by region.

Illustrative Examples

Child care subsidy

The Ontario child care fee subsidy program will continue to be available for families who are eligible to apply for financial support to help them pay for licensed child care.

Fee subsidy eligibility will continue to be determined through the income test that is administered by your local service system manager. The amount you will pay depends on your family's income and is reduced by 50% for eligible children, effective December 31, 2022. To get more information or apply for the child care subsidy, please contact your local service system manager.

Child care tax credit

The Ontario Child Care Tax Credit program will continue to be in effect for eligible families.

Find out if you are eligible to receive tax credit to help with child care costs.

What this means for child care providers

Every licensed child care provider, whether they are providing centre-based or home-based child care, serving children under the age of 6 (or turning 6 before June 30) is eligible to apply for enrolment in the CWELCC system. Under the Directed Growth strategy, the focus for Ontario is prioritizing CWELCC space creation in regions with historically low rates of space availability. This includes rural communities, Indigenous and Francophone communities, and populations that are underserved, including children with special needs, low-income children, vulnerable children, and children from diverse communities. Applications for enrolment in CWELCC will be assessed by local service system managers for alignment with their Directed Growth Plans.

Who is not eligible

Unlicensed programs are not eligible to participate in the CWELCC system. This includes:

• unlicensed home child care providers
• authorized recreation programs
• unlicensed school board-operated extended day programs

Unlicensed providers who wish to participate should consider applying for a licence or joining a licensed home child care agency. Learn how to apply for a child care licence.

Apply

Applicants should contact their local service system manager for more information on how to apply.

Ontario has shifted to a directed growth approach, which focuses on creating affordable child care spaces in communities with populations who need them most. Licensees interested in participating in the CWELCC system must demonstrate that their program aligns with local space expansion plans (for example, it is in a priority neighbourhood).

To support this approach, applicants must provide the ministry with one of the following before their licence application will be processed:

• advice from their local service system manager regarding whether the proposed program will be eligible for CWELCC funding
• confirmation that the applicant has told their local service system manager they will not be applying for the CWELCC system

The ministry may also request the above documentation from licensees who request changes to their existing licensed capacity.

Licensees who opted out of the CWELCC system in 2022 and 2023 and now wish to apply for enrolment in 2024 may contact their local service system manager to determine whether their program aligns with local space expansion plans.

If you participate in CWELCC

Licensed child care programs that participate in the CWELCC system will enter into a service agreement with their service system manager. This agreement outlines the amount of funding your program will receive and the guidelines you must follow.

Some of the requirements that programs will need to meet include:

• demonstrating that you are financially viable
• setting base fees in accordance with the regulation and agreement with the local service system manager
• following the rules set out in the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 and its regulations
• maintaining existing capacity for eligible children for which they are receiving fee reduction funding
• providing information to support data collection and reporting

If you don't participate in CWELCC

Licensed child care programs that do not participate in  CWELCC system must continue to follow the rules and requirements for operating a licensed child care program.

2024 Consultation with parents

Share your feedback to help us shape the future of early learning and child care in Ontario.

We are consulting with families to make sure that the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care system responds to the needs and priorities of all communities.

We want feedback from:

• families with children under the age of 6 currently enrolled in child care programs (whether the program is enrolled in CWELCC or not)
• families who are awaiting access to child care services

Get involved by participating in an online survey from June 3, 2024 to June 24, 2024.

Take the survey

Your input matters

The results of this consultation will directly inform the ongoing implementation of the CWELCC system, including Ontario’s 2024-2025 Action Plan.

By participating in this consultation, you are helping us build a more accessible, affordable and inclusive child care system for all families.

Thank you for your continued support and engagement in the CWELCC consultation process.