96 per cent of Hamilton child care operators opt into Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care funding program

HAMILTON, ON – The City of Hamilton is pleased to announce 215 of 223 licensed child care operators in Hamilton have signed up to participate in the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) funding program, to deliver more affordable child care for local families.

The phased rollout of the program will provide funding to reduce child care fees for families to an average of $12/day by September 2025 as well as raise base wages for registered early childhood educators starting at $18 per hour and $20 per hour for supervisors. Wages will be increased by $1 per year until 2025 up to $25 per hour.

Over the next few weeks, the City’s Children and Community Services division will be working closely with all participating child care operators and home child care agencies to process rebates of 25 per cent of child care fees backdated to April 1, 2022 to all families with a child under 6 years of age.

Child care fees will be further reduced for families by 37 per cent starting on December 31, 2022, as the province of Ontario strives to achieve an average child care cost of $23/day during this phase of the program’s rollout.

For a complete listing of licensed child care operators and home child care agencies that have opted into the program, please visit, www.hamilton.ca/affordablechildcare.

Quick Facts

• On March 28, 2022, the provincial and federal governments announced an agreement to implement the CWELCC funding program in Ontario. Since then, the City has been developing the implementation and application processes, and engaging with 223 licensed child care operators and home child care agencies in Hamilton.
• The program is designed to support Ontario’s children, families, employers and the child care sector to provide high-quality, affordable, accessible and inclusive licensed child care programs.
• If a licensed child care operator chose to opt-out of CWELCC, the operator must notify families and staff in writing. For families, this means child care rates will not be reduced by 25 per cent and they will not receive a rebate in fees. Families have the option to transfer their child(ren) to another child care provider with sufficient notice to their current provider.
• The provincial and federal agreement also includes a commitment of 86,000 new child care spaces, including 15,000 spaces which were previously committed.
• All licensed non-profit, for-profit and municipal child care operators in Hamilton were eligible to apply to participate in CWELCC with a deadline of November 1, 2022.