PART 2 OF 4 POLICY BRIEFING NOTES • FALL 2018

Click here to download a PDF version of this policy brief.

In just 14 months BC’s still-new government has taken bold steps to address the child care chaos.

Finally, after 16 years of inaction on child care under previous governments, we’re now seeing substantial improvements. Based largely on the evidence-based $10aDay Child Care Plan, government is lowering parent fees, raising educator wages and education, and creating more licensed spaces.

Thanks to years of advocacy - from parents, grandparents, educators, and employers across the province – all of our elected officials now know how important quality, affordable child care is for BC children, families, communities and our economy.

Here are highlights of the BC government’s steps to date:

Read the full article here:

PART 1 OF 4 POLICY BRIEFING NOTES • FALL 2018

Click here to download a PDF version of this policy brief.

September 21, 2018

Honourable Katrina Chen
Minister of State for Child Care
PO Box 9057 STN PROV GOVT
Victoria, BC V8V 9E2

Dear Minister of State Chen:

Recently we have been contacted by parents and child care providers expressing concern about:

1. Child care fees that, from their perspective, are increasing substantially – despite their program’s participation in the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative (FRI)
2. Licensed programs that may be closing, for various publicly-stated reasons.  

In the past, we alerted you to individual cases of unusual fee increases in Nanaimo that came to our attention. We are now hearing of large fee increases in other communities, typically in for-profit operations, which have resulted in no, or minimal, fee reductions for families.

Ministry staff have advised they are monitoring the situation closely, and find these are isolated situations. We hope that remains true for both unusual fee increases and program closures.

Certainly, we’ve been hearing lots of concerns about fee increases and program closures for many years. However, unlike the previous government, your government is making significant investments in lowering parent fees and increasing licensed spaces, so it’s essential to ensure that your child care priorities are not undermined.  In addition to the policies and accountability mechanisms already in place, we recommend that government take proactive steps to reduce the possibility of these situations arising, follow-up on individual concerns, and take action where appropriate and necessary.  

Click here to download a PDF version of the letter to Minister Chen

Listen to $10aDay researcher Lynell Anderson CGA CPA, along with Shannon Newman-Bennett being interviewed by Lynda Steele on CKNW radio. They're discussing recent changes to child care in BC...click here

PREMIER ANNOUNCES INCREASED INCOME THRESHOLD FOR FAMILIES TO GET CHILDCARE SUBSIDIES

BC Government takes one more step towards affordable child care in BC!

Parent fees eliminated for most families earning less than $45,000 annually with children under age 3 in licensed child care – as recommended in the $10aDay Child Care Plan.

Building on the BC government’s recent Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative - which is saving families of more than 50,000 young children up to $350 monthly for licensed child care - effective September 1, 2018 government’s new Affordable Child Care Benefit provides even more affordability relief for more families. Through a streamlined, on-line application process, families with annual incomes of $45,000 or less will receive the full benefit, up to the cost of care, and those who make up to $111,000 will receive a
portion, scaled according to income.

“Joyful and excited are some of the words I’d use to describe the responses we’ve heard from families already” reports Sharon Gregson, Spokesperson for the $10aDay Plan. “They’ve used government’s online calculator, and are now anticipating more fee relief. So it’s important to ensure that families are aware of this benefit.”

However, while increasing income-tested subsides can provide affordability relief in the short term, it is not the way to build or fund a child care system over time. It’s not the way we fund schools, libraries, hospitals or other BC early learning programs like Strong Start. It isn’t even the way we fund programs at community centres, where user fees are often reduced or waived for people with economic or other barriers while everyone else pays the same. Public funds cover the difference.

For the first time in a generation Early Childhood Educators in BC will receive a publicly-funded wage increase.

After nearly two decades of government ignoring the growing recruitment and retention crisis in the Child Care sector, new funding for wages and education are very welcome. Now that government is supporting the child care workforce, making child care more affordable for families and creating new licensed spaces, the foundations for achieving quality, universal child care are in place.

Wage enhancements of $1/hr in 2018 ($2,080 annually for a 40 hour week), with another $1/hr in 2020, are important steps towards addressing the recruitment and retention crisis across BC. Yet, today’s wages are so low – averaging about $17/hour province-wide – that we’ll be urging all MLA’s to support an additional wage lift before 2020.