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Canadian team
The Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care system, usually shortened to CWELCC, has changed how many licensed childcare programs in Ontario set fees, collect revenue and report to government. If you run a licensed centre or a licensed home child care agency, you have probably already made decisions about it. This article steps back and explains the system in principle, what operators typically need to keep track of, and where record keeping tends to go wrong.
What CWELCC is
CWELCC is a national initiative in which the federal government funds provinces and territories, through bilateral agreements, to make licensed childcare more affordable and more available. Each province and territory designs its own implementation. In Ontario, licensed operators could choose whether to enrol in the system, and the program is administered locally by the service system managers who already oversee childcare funding in each region.
The headline goal most people know is lower parent fees, with a national target of an average of ten dollars a day. How and when that is reached, and what it looks like for a particular program, depends on provincial policy and local administration.
How reduced parent fees work, in principle
For a participating licensed operator, the basic idea is straightforward: you charge eligible families a reduced fee, and funding from your service manager makes up the difference between that reduced fee and the revenue you would otherwise need. In practice there are several moving parts:
- Eligible children. Fee reductions apply to children in specific age groups. In Ontario this has generally meant children under six in licensed care, but confirm the exact eligibility rules and how kindergarten-aged children are treated with your service manager.
- Base fees. Reductions are usually calculated against a reference or base fee for each age group, which may be tied to what you charged on a set date. Knowing your documented base fees matters.
- Fee caps and allowable changes. There are typically limits on what fees you can charge and on raising them. Check the current rules with your service manager rather than relying on older guidance.
- Funding flows. Operators receive funding according to the local agreement, then reconcile and report on how it was used.
What operators typically need to track
Whatever the details of your agreement, most reporting comes back to a handful of records. Keeping them current each month is far easier than rebuilding them at year end.
- Enrolment by child. Start and end dates, the program or room, and schedule (full-time, part-time, days per week).
- Age group for each child, and when it changes. A child aging from toddler to preschool mid-year can change both the base fee and the funding calculation.
- Fees charged versus base fees. For each eligible child, what the base fee is, what reduction was applied, and what the family actually paid.
- Funding received. Dates, amounts and what period each payment covers.
- Other subsidies. Some families also receive fee subsidy. Track it separately so the two are not blended.
- Reports submitted. Keep copies of what you sent to your service manager and when.
Common record-keeping pitfalls
Age transitions that are not reflected in billing
If a child moves to an older age group and nobody updates the fee, the invoice, the reduction and the funding claim can all drift out of line. Set a monthly check for upcoming birthdays and room moves.
Mixing reduced fees with extras
Items such as late pickup fees, registration fees or optional programming may be treated differently from the base childcare fee. Record them as separate line items so you can show exactly what was charged for care.
Spreadsheets that disagree with invoices
Many operators keep a CWELCC spreadsheet alongside their billing system. When one is updated and the other is not, reconciliation becomes painful. Wherever possible, report from the same records you bill from.
Missing documentation of your base fees
If your base fees are ever questioned, you will want the original fee schedule and evidence of what was charged. Store it somewhere permanent, not in one person's inbox.
Questions to ask your service manager
- Which children and age groups are eligible in our program, and how are kindergarten-aged children treated?
- What base fee applies to each of our age groups, and how was it determined?
- What are the current rules on fee increases and on charging for extras?
- How often do we report, in what format, and what supporting records should we keep?
- How are mid-month enrolments, withdrawals and age transitions handled?
- How long must we retain records, and what happens in an audit or review?
Write the answers down and date them. Guidance changes, and a dated note of what you were told is useful later.
How KiddieTrac helps
KiddieTrac keeps enrolment, attendance, invoicing and CWELCC subsidy tracking in one place, so the reduced fees on each invoice and the figures you report come from the same records. You can produce reporting from that data rather than rebuilding a separate spreadsheet each month.
