B.C. daycares report delays in funding approval as more $10-a-day spaces announced

The B.C. government announced Thursday another 757 daycare spaces will be joining the $10-a-day program in the province.

“It was like Christmas, we got to tell (the parents) the best gift ever — and for years, they’re going to save,” said Natalie Robinson, executive director of Today N’ Tomorrow Learning Society in Courtenay, B.C.

They are one of the centres joining the program.

This is part of the government’s commitment to providing 3,750 spaces as part of the 2021 budget but that number has to increase to 12,500 spaces by the end of this year in order to qualify for a federal funding partnership.

There are currently 128,000 daycare spaces across B.C. and the government said it intends to keep its promise to meet the federal requirement.

“I’m not going to put a date on it,” said Nicholas Simons, Social Development and Poverty Reduction Minister. “I know better than to do that, but every day we work towards achieving that goal we set for the province.

But some providers are still struggling to receive subsidized funding from the government.

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Sandra Christian, founder and president of Creative Kids Learning Centres is among many who say they are on the brink of having to increase their fees as much as $350 per child because they don’t know if the government will approve their funding for fee reduction by the April 1 deadline.

The Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative (CCFRI) allows the government to subsidize the daycare fees and the savings are passed on to parents.

Christian said the application is quite extensive and they put in their application in early February.

“It seems the government does not have the time to process the applications in the timeline they provide,” she said. “So in the past, we have had a temporary re-approval or we’ve been back-paid but we must justify every year that we are re-applying for the program.”

According to the ministry, all providers will be approved in time, provided they are not seeking a base fee increase.

If they are, they have the opportunity to defer that request beyond April.

Karin Kirkpatrick, Official Opposition Critic for Education, Children, Family Development, and Childcare said about a week ago she started getting concerned calls from childcare providers and parents about the annual approval for the free reduction initiative.

“Childcare providers have been notified have not yet been approved to be able to give parents that discount and that they, the provider, have now had to tell their parents that per child they may have to pay up to $350 more per month.

“The providers are beside themselves, they don’t want to do this to parents,” she said.

“But they are also not in a position to fund that themselves. This is a government obligation and these daycare providers have had contracts. The expectation is that government will fund that and most childcare providers, these are small businesses, women-owned or non-profits and this is a non-profit and private issue. They don’t have the money in the bank to fund that.”

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Kirkpatrick said this is an annual renewal so it should not be a complicated process.

She added daycare providers have also been told if they continue to give the discount to the parents, they do so at their “own risk” as it’s not confirmed they will be approved.

In a statement, the Minister of State for Child Care, Katrina Chen, said, “We are working with all providers to approve applications within our stated timelines for the coming year and ensuring that parents see the maximum possible benefit in the form of reduced monthly fees.”