Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement (CWELCC)
Program description and eligibility information for families
CWELCC is a five-year plan being implemented in stages, to make child care more accessible and affordable for all families. Fees will reduce every year, reaching an average fee of $10/day by 2025-2026 for children under the age of six. The Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system aims to:
- give families access to more affordable and high-quality child care options
- help lower child care fees for parents of children under the age of six
- increase child care spaces
- support the child care workforce
- support inclusive child care
Licensed child care providers can participate in the CWELCC system to help reduce fees. They must inform parents, through their parent handbook, of whether their child care program is enrolled in the CWELCC system.
If your licensed child care provider is not enrolled, your fees will not be reduced.
As a parent or guardian of a child under the age of six, you do not need to apply to get a fee reduction.
As the service system manager for the City of Greater Sudbury, the Children Services team’s role in the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care system is to:
- implement provincial guidelines;
- establish local policies, procedures and funding approaches for childcare operators;
- develop and implement an application and approval process for the CWELCC system;
- contract for CWELCC funding through Service Agreements;
- provide fiscal oversight & funding;
- expand childcare spaces based on targets provided by the Ministry that will be guided by our community Directed Growth and Expansion plan; and
- report to the Ministry of Education on the CWELCC system implementation.
Eligibility
To be eligible for CWELCC fee reductions that will help with the cost of child care, children need to be under the age of six, and enrolled in a child care program participating in CWELCC.
If a child turns six between January 1 and June 30 and is enrolled in a CWELCC participating Preschool, Kindergarten, Family-Age Group or Home child care program, they are eligible for a fee reduction until June 30.
If a child turns six years of age after June 30, and is enrolled in a CWELCC participating Preschool, Kindergarten, Family Age Group or Home child care program, they are eligible for a fee reduction until the end of the month in which they turn six.
If a child is enrolled in a CWELCC participating School-Age program and turns six, they are eligible until the end of the month in which they turn six.
Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Progress in Greater Sudbury
Reducing Fees for Families
In the City of Greater Sudbury, 100 per cent of Greater Sudbury’s licensed child care partners, which are purchase of service partners, are enrolled in the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care system and have been able to reduce fees for families.
CWELCC participating programs have been able to reduce their fees for CWELCC child care care by approximately 53 per cent. For a family with two young children, the annual savings range from $7,840 to $13,619.
Average fees at Licensed Child Care Centres in Greater Sudbury
|
Age Group |
Average daily fee - pre CWELCC |
Average daily fee - 2024 |
Annual savings for families - per full-time child |
|
Infant (under 18 months) |
$57.11 |
$26.98 |
$7440.46 |
|
Toddler (18-29 months) |
$47.42 |
$22.41 |
$6179.08 |
|
Preschool (30 month until start of kindergarten) |
$42.55 |
$20.11 |
$5544.48 |
|
Kindergarten (4-5 years) |
|
|
|
Improving Wages for Educators
Under workforce compensation guidelines of the agreement, Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs) and supervisors will receive a $1 per hour wage increase each year from 2023 to 2026, up to a maximum of $25/hour.
The average hourly wage for an RECE working as a program staff in a licensed child care program in Greater Sudbury has risen from $23.28 in 2021 to $26.72 in 2024. This is an increase of 14.8 per cent.
The Early Learning and Child Care sector employs 1,316 individuals, 536 of whom are Registered Early Childhood Educators.
Developing and implementing a local Access, Inclusion and Expansion framework
Child care expansion will focus on children with special needs, families with low income, those who are most vulnerable, children from diverse communities, Francophones and Indigenous children.
Expansion will take place in data-determined priority neighbourhoods and as always, focus on providing Greater Sudbury families with high quality, affordable and inclusive child care. Consult the Directed Growth Guidelines for more information about child care expansion planning.
Current CWELCC Providers
Licensees currently enrolled in CWELCC must receive approval from the Children Services section to make changes to any of following:
- licensed capacity
- age group served (including alternate capacity)
- program hours (e.g., less than six hours to more than six hours
- increase the number of approved contracted homes - Home Child Care Agency (HCCA) only
Please contact childrenservices@greatersudbury.ca to review proposed revisions and eligibility for CWELCC funding.
Once revised programming has been approved, please complete the below CWELCC licence revision form and submit to childrenservices@greatersudbury.ca
CWELCC Licence Revisions Form(PDF, 628.47 KB)
CWELCC Révision de Permis(PDF, 628.54 KB)
Becoming a CWELCC provider
New Applications
At this time, the City of Greater Sudbury is not approving new applications into the system.
All applicants interested in joining the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system in Greater Sudbury must complete an expression of interest form prior to submitting a licence application in Ontario’s Child Care Licensing System (CCLS). Once the document has been completed, submit to childrenservices@greatersudbury.ca.
CWELCC New Licence Application Form(PDF, 1.9 MB)
CWELCC New Application Form- French(PDF 1.9MB)