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CWELCC Growth and Participation

The Ministry of Education provided Halton Region with a directed growth plan, which outlines the number of community-based and school-based child care spaces Halton is permitted to add in CWELCC, up to 2026. Halton Region’s spaces allocations by year are detailed below:

For 2025, Halton has limited funding to support enrollment of additional child care providers in CWELCC or for CWELCC-enrolled child care providers to expand and create additional community-based spaces in Halton Region. Halton Region will continue to advocate to the provincial government for additional spaces and funding to ensure as many Halton families as possible receive affordable child care.

Child care space allocations are reviewed annually with the Ministry.

It is anticipated that the next allocation of community-based spaces will be 347 spaces in 2026. Community-based spaces accounts for spaces located outside of schools and includes before and after kindergarten spaces offered by new school projects.

School-based spaces are those located in schools and are determined directly by the Ministry of Education. Halton will add school based spaces each year up to 2026 in accordance with the Province’s directed growth plan, through school-based, child care construction projects which are already planned and underway.

Approved child care providers

For a list of child care providers in Halton enrolled in CWELCC, please select your community below.

Age criteria

Fee reduction funding is intended to support children under the age of six in CWELCC programs. Fees must be reduced for eligible children, which includes:

• Any child, until the last day of the month in which the child turns six years old (irrespective of the type of licensed child care program in which the child is enrolled).
• Up until June 30 in a calendar year, any child who:
  • turns six years old between January 1 and June 30 in that calendar year; and
  • is enrolled in a licensed infant, toddler, preschool, or kindergarten group, a licensed family age group, or home child care.

Child Care Fees and Reductions

As of December 31, 2022, participating sites were required to reduce child care fees by 52.75 per cent from March 2022 rates to a minimum of $12 per day OR to a maximum $22 per day, whichever amount is lower.

Families receiving fee 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.

If your family has a child under the age of six in receipt of fee subsidy, you will see your parental contribution amounts reduced by 50% from the parental contribution charged prior to your child care provider’s participation in CWELCC.

If you are receiving fee subsidy and your child care provider does not participate in CWELCC, you will continue to receive your current fee subsidy without any change to your parental contribution until your child ages-out of the program or leaves the centre/agency voluntarily.

Providers who are not in CWELCC cannot accept new fee subsidy children effective January 1, 2025.

Additional resources

• Child Care Search - find contact information for a specific centre or licensed home child care agency (external link).
• Child Care Directory and Information Line - learn about child care options in Halton (external link).

What is CWELCC?

In March 2022, the provincial and federal governments announced a $13.2 billion child care agreement, known as the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) program. CWELCC is a five-year plan that is being implemented in stages, with the goal to make child care more accessible, affordable and inclusive. This includes reducing fees to an average of $10 per day for children under the age of six in licensed child care by March 2026. Learn more about Halton Region's role in implementing CWELCC.

My child care provider wants to enroll in CWELCC. When will my child care provider be able to enroll?

Enrollment for additional child care providers to join CWELCC is currently closed as there is no provincial funding to support growth of CWELCC in Halton at this time.

Halton Region will continue to advocate to the provincial government for additional funding to support expansion of CWELCC spaces to ensure as many Halton families as possible receive affordable child care.

If my child care provider enrolls in CWELCC, will I receive a rebate for child care fees that I have already paid?

Child care providers that enroll into CWELCC  will receive funding from the date of enrollment, with no funding provided towards retroactive rebates. For example, if a child care provider were to enroll on June 1, 2025, families would only receive lower fees from that date forward. Families would not receive rebates for care received prior to the date the child care provider enrolled.

I have questions or concerns about my CWELCC fee reductions, who should I talk to?

Please contact your child care provider with any questions or concerns about your fee reductions.

How can I find child care providers who have enrolled in CWELCC?

Please see the list of child care providers, in Halton, enrolled in CWELCC.

When will the next child care fee reduction take place?

Effective January 1, 2025, fees were capped at $22 per day. This means that, fees would be either $22 or the current reduced base fee charged to parents on December 31, 2024, whichever is less. If families are currently paying less than $22 per day (e.g. a fee that is under the cap) their fee will stay the same.

The Ministry has communicated that by March 2026, child care fees will be lowered to an average of $10 per day. Information about timelines for additional fee reductions will be shared on this webpage when available.