Some B.C. parents could pay hundreds of dollars more for child care starting April 1

Kelowna child-care operator Amanda Worms says she has been calling parents at her daycare centres all week, telling them they will have to pay $350 more in monthly fees starting April 1.

Worms says the increase is happening because the Ministry of Children and Family Development is unable to meet the April 1 deadline to approve funding that she has been receiving until now.

"This $350 could mean my families can't make their mortgage payments," said Worms, who owns and operates five daycare facilities in B.C.'s Interior.

"It's just really awful. You never want to be the person that does that. It's an unfair position to be put in. These families have been struggling for two years trying to manage through the pandemic and so have we. It's the government's responsibility to step up and do their job," added Worms.

Worms says she applied for a 3.7-per-cent fee increase on Jan. 31, to help pay for her staff's wage enhancements and to help account for the shortfall from the additional five sick days every B.C. worker was given this year, which affects her to the tune of $65,000. She tells CTV News she was told less than a week ago she would not be approved for the funding before April 1.

"Our base funding will be available to us sometime in the next week, but the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative (CCFRI) and wage enhancement is nowhere to be found," said Worms.

"I've been on the phone with the ministry for over six hours in the last week, trying to figure out what happened. It appears there was a technical glitch. Now, I have to tell parents that they have to pay the full fees on April 1 because we cannot survive without that funding," said Worms.

Worms said the province asked her to delay any fee increases that she applied for.

Worms is not the only child-care operator who is experiencing delays in receiving funding for fee increases.

"We received an email yesterday saying they were still processing applications and because we have requested a fee increase for parents in some programs, there will be a delay in that approval process," said Allison Merton, director of the early years program at Collingwood Neighbourhood House in Vancouver.

"They are not saying why there is a delay, which is a little frustrating. Sometimes when governments overly commit on timelines, they are not prepared for the influx of applications they may receive," added Merton.

Merton told CTV News that Collingwood Neighbourhood House has reserves to carry those expenses over, but understands many operators are not in that position.

"It affects everybody differently. Everyone is trying to bounce back from COVID due to cleaning and staffing issues," said Merton.

B.C. Liberal child-care critic Karin Kirkpatrick said it's an annual renewal process, so it should not have been a surprise to government to receive this many applications.

"If affordable child care is at the centre of what the NDP are promising, this is not the way to encourage child-care providers to operate," said Kirkpatrick.

"Parents are now going to have to pay more for childcare starting April 1 and there will not be funds for wage top-ups for early childhood educators."

Kirkpatrick added there seems to be a rush to move childcare from the Ministry of Children and Family Development to the Ministry of Education.

"That was supposed to happen in 2023, but with the most recent budget announcement, it's now happening on April 1 of this year. I'm presuming there is chaos and confusion with such a quick move to Education," said Kirkpatrick.

In a written statement, the ministry said more than 80 per cent of operators that applied to renew their funding have received approvals or temporary approvals. The exception is operators that applied for a fee increase.

"Providers that requested a fee increase starting in April were told they could not be offered temporary approval because the ministry needs the appropriate time to assess their reasons for raising parents' fees. This has been the case for all previous years of the program and is not a change for providers," the statement reads.

Sharon Gregson, provincial spokesperson for the child-care advocacy organization $10aDay, says it is the government's job to make sure fee increases are keeping up with the cost of living, and to ensure fees are not being increased to create more profit for child-care operators.

"The government is taking longer than anybody would like to review the reasons why people are having fee increases,” Gregson said. “There is a lot of public money at stake. In the new fiscal year, it will be $1.2 billion of provincial and federal money. The government needs to make sure taxpayer dollars in the form of fee-reductions for parents, is actually reaching parents."

"That's not to say they shouldn't be taking this long. They should have enough staff to make these reviews in a timely fashion," added Gregson.

Gregson told CTV News the current system is clearly not working. She said there are multiple funding streams operators rely on that are all intertwined.

"It is much better for child-care providers to just have one funding stream and transition their programs to $10 a day. In that system, operators receive one funding cheque each month. From that, they can reduce parent fees, increase ECE wages and run their programs. It's a much smoother funding stream. The sooner we can get all operators to $10 a day, the better," said Gregson.

More programs in B.C. are expected to transition to $10 a day child care in the coming months.

For now, some operators have to make tough decisions and phone calls to keep their businesses running.