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Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) System

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Background

On March 28, 2022, the Federal and Provincial Governments announced a funding agreement that will reduce the cost of child care in Ontario to an average of $10 per day by 2025-2026. The Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) Agreement includes $13.2 billion for Ontario over six years. This agreement will:

  • Allow participating licensed child care centres and licensed home child care agencies to reduce parent/caregiver fees for children by 50 per cent, on average. There will be further fee reductions in 2024 and 2025.
  • Set a minimum wage floor of $19/hour for Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECE) and $21/hour for RECE supervisors and RECE home visitors, increasing $1 per hour each year until 2026, up to a maximum of $25 per hour.
  • Create 86,000 licensed child care spaces in Ontario for children under the age of six by the end of 2026 to meet the growing demand for affordable child care.

To learn more about this program:


Key Accomplishments

  • 88% of Halton’s licensed child care programs (child care centres and home child care agencies) are enrolled in the CWELCC System. There are currently 272 sites representing a total of 18,332 spaces that are part of the CWELCC System in Halton.
  • Across CWELCC programs in Halton, child care fees have been reduced by 52.75% from March 2022 rates, providing significant savings for families.
  • Parental contributions for families receiving fee subsidy for child care have also been reduced by 50%.
  • Funding has been provided to ensure RECEs are paid at the 2023 wage floor of $19/hour for RECE program staff and $21/hour for RECE supervisors and RECE home visitors, and to support a $1 per hour wage increase in 2023.
    • More than 1,000 RECEs benefitted from increased wages as a result of CWELCC annual increase and wage floor funding in 2023.

Halton Region’s Role

As the service system manager for Halton Region, the Region’s role in the CWELCC System is to:

  • Implement the Ministry of Education’s Guidelines;
  • Develop and implement local policies and procedures;
  • Administer CWELCC funding through CWELCC Service Agreements;
  • Provide oversight of funding; and
  • Report to the Ministry of Education on the CWELCC System.

2023 CWELCC Growth and Participation

For 2023, Halton Region was provided with a directed growth space allocation by the provincial Ministry of Education, which outlines the number of spaces Halton is permitted to add in the CWELCC system. The directed growth allocation specifies how many community-based spaces and school-based spaces can be created for each year of the CWELCC agreement, up to 2026.

  2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Total spaces
School-based Spaces 88 215 194 88 264 849
Community Spaces 0 190 0 0 347 537
Total 88 405 194 88 611 1,386

Community-based spaces are located anywhere outside of schools. Halton was provided with 190 spaces for 2023. The 190 spaces in 2023 have already been allocated to operators who opted into CWELCC in 2022, and whose enrollment was delayed until early 2023.

The next allocation of community-based spaces is anticipated to be 347 spaces in 2026. Space allocations will be reviewed annually with the Ministry of Education.

School-based spaces are those that are located in schools, and are determined through Ministry of Education’s capital planning process. Halton will add 792 school based spaces by 2026, through school-based, child care construction projects which are already planned and underway.

Enrollment for additional child care operators to join the system is currently closed as there is no provincial funding to support growth of the CWELCC system at this time.


Child Care Operators Participating in CWELCC: Licence Revisions

As part of the Ministry of Education’s licensing process, operators currently enrolled in CWELCC seeking to revise their licence must submit a licence revision request in the Ministry’s Child Care Licensing System (CCLS) and seek service system manager advice for any of the following changes:

  • Licensed capacity
  • Age group served (including alternate capacity)
  • Program hours (e.g. increasing a program from less than six hours to more than six hours)
  • Increase the number of approved contracted homes for licensed home child care agencies

Please note that the Ministry is no longer accepting the Licence Revision Service System Manager Confirmation Form (PDF). Halton Region will be notified of the licence revision request and provide service system manager advice directly through CCLS.

If your licence revision requires additional funding (e.g., adding a new toddler room), the Region will not be able to confirm CWELCC funding eligibility at this time. Operators enrolled in CWELCC will not be able to proceed with their licence revision unless the Region has approved the revision to receive CWELCC funding.


New Child Care Operators: Licence Applications

As part of the Ministry of Education’s licensing process, new child care operators are required to indicate whether or not they intend to enroll in CWELCC in CCLS.

Please note that the Ministry is no longer accepting the New Application Service System Manager Confirmation Form (PDF). Halton Region will be notified of the new application and provide service system manager advice directly through CCLS.

If you are seeking to enroll in the CWELCC System, the Region will not be able to confirm CWELCC funding eligibility at this time. Operators that are not approved to enroll in the CWELCC System can still proceed with their new licence application with the Ministry of Education.


Fee Reduction

As of December 31, 2022, participating child care operators are required to reduce their child care fees by 52.75 per cent from their March 2022 rates to a minimum of $12 per day.

Child care operators that enroll in the CWELCC System in 2023 will receive funding only for the portion of the year between the enrollment date and December 31, 2023, with no funding provided towards retroactive rebates.

There are two types of child care fees: base fees and non-base fees.

Base fees

Base fees are mandatory costs that parents/caregivers must pay to receive child care. This includes anything a child care operator is required to provide under the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014, and any items or services that are part of the fee outlined in the operator’s Parent Handbook. Base fees are eligible for fee reductions.

Non-base fees

Non-base fees are means optional items or services that parents/caregivers are not required to pay to receive child care. For example, where a separate fee is charged for optional music classes. Non-base fees are not eligible for fee reductions.

Further information about base and non-base fees are available in the CWELCC Halton Region Guidelines for Child Care Operators 2023.


Wage Compensation

Child care operators enrolled in the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) System may be eligible for wage compensation funding to support an annual wage increase and a minimum wage floor for eligible staff.

To be eligible for wage compensation funding, staff must be employed in an eligible position by a child care provider that is enrolled in the CWELCC System. Eligible positions include:

  • RECE Program Staff
  • RECE Child Care Supervisor
  • RECE Home Child Care Visitor

Annual Wage Increase

Child care operators enrolled in the CWELCC System are required to increase the hourly wage of eligible staff by $1/hour, plus benefits, on January 1 of each year from 2023 to 2026, up to a maximum of $25 per hour, including Wage Enhancement Grant.

Wage Floor

The minimum hourly wage floor amounts for RECEs were set by the Province of Ontario and came into effect on April 1, 2022. A new minimum wage floor will come into effect on January 1 of each year. The hourly wage floor amounts for 2022-2026 are noted in the table below:

Table: Minimum Hourly Wage Floor 2022 to 2026

Eligible Positions 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
RECE Program Staff $18 $19 $20 $21 $22
RECE Child Care Supervisorsor RECE Home Child Care Visitors $20 $21 $22 $23 $24

Minimum Wage Offset

Child care operators enrolled in the CWELCC System may be eligible for minimum wage offset funding for eligible staff.

To be eligible for the minimum wage offset funding, staff must be employed by a child care provider that is participating in the CWELCC System and be in a position as follows:

  • Non-RECE Program Staff
  • Non-RECE Child Care Supervisor
  • Non-RECE Home Child Care Visitor

As of October 1, 2022, child care operators were required to comply with minimum wage legislation and bring the wages of staff to $15.50 per hour. To offset the minimum wage increase, Halton Region is providing funding to operators enrolled in the CWELCC system to cover the incremental amount needed to bring wages for eligible staff to $15.50/hour.

To be eligible for a minimum wage offset, operators must have employed staff in positions that were earning less than $15.50 per hour on September 30, 2022. Positions created after September 30, 2022, are not eligible.

Please contact please contact our Children’s Services team at childcareservices@halton.ca for questions about wage compensation.


Frequently Asked Questions

  1. When does the Region expect to open CWELCC applications again?
    Enrollment for additional child care operators to join the system is currently closed as there is no provincial funding to support growth of the CWELCC System in Halton at this time.
  2. My CWELCC funding allocations are not sufficient. How do I request additional funding?
    If your organization has questions about your CWELCC allocation, please contact your Program Analyst.
  3. If my organization is already enrolled in CWELCC and has not been approved to expand (i.e. licence revision), can I open full fee rooms?
    No. Operators participating in the CWELCC System cannot have different fees (CWELCC/non-CWELCC) within a site.

Guidance and Resources

The following information is intended for child care centre owners, operators and staff on the CWELCC system:

Guidelines

For guidance from the Ministry of Education and Halton Region, please review the documents below.

Application Information

Applications for operators to enroll into the CWELCC System in 2023 are closed until further notice. Should additional funding become available to expand CWELCC spaces in the future, Halton Region will consider accepting applications at that time.


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