Consequences for breaking child care rules
Find out what child care providers, home child care agencies and child care centres need to know about the penalties that help us ensure compliance with child care legislation.
Overview
Child care providers must follow the rules set out in the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 (CCEYA) and its regulations.
These laws apply to:
- licensed child care centres
- licensed home child care agencies
- unlicensed child care providers
- home child care providers that are overseen by a licensed agency
- providers of in-home services that are overseen by a licensed agency
- authorized recreational and skill building programs
Learn the rules and requirements for child care providers.
Enforcement
We maintain standards and rules that support the health, safety and well-being of children in child care.
If a licensed or unlicensed child care provider does not comply with our rules, laws or standards, we use different types of tools to support them to become compliant.
Enforcement tools
We take a progressive approach to enforcement. We start by giving child care providers, staff and licensees clear information about the rules set out in the law that they must follow.
If further actions are required, depending on the nature of the issue and the specific circumstances, we might issue:
In some instances, we may also prosecute a provider or licensee for offences under the CCEYA. Prosecution means we could bring legal action against a person who breaks specific rules set out in the CCEYA. If a person is convicted of an offence under the CCEYA, they can face a fine of up to $250,000 or possible jail time. They are also not allowed to operate or work in child care ever again.
Confirmed child care violations and offences are listed in the child care violations registry. The registry includes child care violations recorded and verified against:
- unlicensed child care providers since January 2012
- licensed providers since August 2015
Compliance orders
We can issue a compliance order any time a child care program or child care provider is not in compliance with the rules in the CCEYA or its regulations.
A compliance order states which requirement has not been met and orders that the non-compliance is corrected. Failure to comply with a compliance order is an offence under the CCEYA and may be subject to prosecution.
Protection orders
Ministry officials can issue a protection order when there is an immediate threat to the health, safety or welfare of children. Protection orders can be issued against:
- licensed home child care providers
- home child care agencies
- child care centres
- unlicensed child care providers
Child care providers who are issued a protection order must immediately stop providing child care until the ministry official is satisfied that the threat has been resolved.
Administrative (financial) penalties
Administrative penalties may be issued in a number of different circumstances where someone is not following the rules in the CCEYA or regulations. These penalties can be issued to businesses, like the operator of a child care centre, or to individuals, like an unlicensed child care provider.
The purpose of these penalties is to encourage compliance and prevent a person from benefitting (making money) from breaking the law.
Some of the most common reasons we issue a financial penalty are:
- an unlicensed child care provider has more children in their care than they are allowed to have
- an individual obstructs an inspector and does not allow the inspector to do their job enforcing the CCEYA and its regulations
Penalties under the legislation range from $500 to $4,000. Some penalties accumulate for every day the non-compliance continues, up to a maximum of $100,000.
Types of administrative penalties with dollar value
There are accumulating penalties and non-accumulating penalties.
Accumulating penalties
The penalties in this table accumulate daily (including weekdays, weekends and holidays) if the contravention continues for 2 or more days in a row. This means the financial penalty gets bigger the longer the non-compliance continues.
Table 1: accumulating penalties
| Item | Contravened provisions of the CCEYA | Description of contravention | Amount of administrative (financial) penalty, in dollars |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Act, s. 6 (1), read with s. 6 (3) subparagraph 1 i | Prohibition – provision of home child care, total number of children | 2,000 × number of children that exceed the number specified in the Act |
| 2. | Act, s. 6 (1), read with s. 6 (3) subparagraph 1 iv | Prohibition – provision of home child care, number of children younger than two | 2,000 × number of children that exceed the number specified in the Act |
| 3. | Act, s. 6 (1), read with s. 6 (3) subparagraph 1 iii | Prohibition – provision of home child care, advising home child care agency | 1,000 |
| 4. | Act, s. 6 (1), read with s. 6 (3) subparagraph 2 i | Prohibition – provision of unlicensed child care, total number of children | 2,000 × number of children that exceed the number specified in the Act |
| 5. | Act, s. 6 (1), read with s. 6 (3) subparagraph 2 iii | Prohibition – provision of unlicensed child care, number of children younger than two | 2,000 × number of children that exceed the number specified in the Act |
| 6. | Act, s. 7 | Prohibition – operation of home child care agency | 2,000 |
| 7. | Act, s. 8 | Prohibition – operation of multiple unlicensed premises | 2,000 |
| 8. | Act, s. 9 | Prohibition – past conduct, child care providers, etc. | 2,000 |
| 9. | Act, s. 10 | Prohibition – preventing parental access to the child and premises | 1,000 |
| 10. | Act, s. 11 | Prohibition – use of terms re-licensing | 750 |
| 11. | Act, s. 12 | Duty to disclose if not licensed | 750 |
| 12. | Act, s. 14 | Duties re posting, returning and copying licences | 750 |
| 13. | Act, s. 15 | Duty to provide receipt for payment | 500 |
| 14. | Act, s. 31 (4) | Obligation to produce and assist | 2,000 |
| 15. | Act, s. 35 | Obligation to provide police record checks | 2,000 |
| 16. | Act, s. 76 | Prohibition – obstruction of inspector | 4,000 |
| 17. | Regulation, s. 8 | Ratios and maximum group sizes, child care centre | 2,000 × number of children that exceed the number specified in s. 8 |
| 18. | Regulation, s. 8.1 | Licensed family age groups | 2,000 × number of children that exceed the number specified in s. 8.1 |
| 19. | Regulation, s. 9 | Home child care group sizes | 2,000 × number of children that exceed the number specified in s. 9 |
| 20. | Regulation, s. 11 | Supervision by adult at all times | 2,000 |
| 22. | Regulation, s. 77.2 | Prohibition – charging base fee higher than applicable base fee | 750 × number of children for whom a fee higher than the applicable base fee was charged or not credited or refunded |
Non-accumulating penalties
The penalties in Table 2 do not accumulate. All penalties increase if the contravention is repeated within the next 2 years, but the amount of one administrative penalty will never be more than $100,000.
Table 2: non-accumulating penalties
| Item | Contravened provisions | Description of contravention | Amount of financial penalty, in dollars |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Regulation, s. 11.1 (1) | Supervision of volunteers and students at all times | 1,000 |
| 0.2 | Regulation, s. 15 (2) | Designated spaces and items inaccessible to children | 1,000 |
| 0.3 | Regulation, s. 30.1 (1) and (2) (a) | Bodies of water | 1,000 |
| 0.4 | Regulation, s. 31 | Hazards | 1,000 |
| 1. | Regulation, clause 38 (1) (b) | Reporting of serious occurrence | 2,000 |
| 2. | Regulation, subclause 40 (1) (b) (ii) and clause 40 (1) (d) | Administration of drugs or medications | 2,000 |
| 3. | Regulation, s. 48 (1) | Prohibited practices, licensee | 2,000 |
| 3.1 | Regulation, s. 60, 61.1 and 63 | Duty to obtain record check | 1,000 |
| 4. | Regulation, s. 72 (1), (2), (3) | Records re children | 750 |
| 5. | Regulation, s. 74 | Records re home child care providers | 750 |
| 6. | Regulation, s. 75 | Copies of agreements | 750 |
Pay your penalties
When an administrative penalty is issued, it is the responsibility of the individual or business that was issued the penalty to either:
- pay the administrative penalty within 30 days
- submit a request for review within 15 days
Payment may be made by credit card, certified cheque or money order.
Appeal an administrative penalty
You have up to 15 days to submit in writing a request for review of your administrative penalty. If you submit a request to have your penalty reviewed, the Ministry of Education will review:
- your request
- the notice of administrative penalty
The ministry may rescind, reduce or affirm the penalty amount.
Your notice of administrative penalty will have specific instructions about how to submit a request for review.
Restraining orders
Ministry officials may apply to the Superior Court of Justice for an order to restrain a person from providing child care if the ministry believes on reasonable grounds that the provision of child care by a particular person poses an imminent threat to the health, safety or welfare of a child.
Violation of a court order is a criminal offence and may result in a fine and/or imprisonment.