The Ontario government is making changes to improve the access to child care across the province.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced the amendments today.
“The changes we are announcing today are important as they will help ensure working parents can return to the workforce as we make progress containing the pandemic,” said Minister Lecce. “We are making child care more affordable for parents, improving safety for children, and reducing red tape for child care operators. Our government appreciates the challenges families are facing these days and we are committed to doing everything we can to reduce their burden.”
The regulatory amendments, which take effect on March 8, 2021, will:
- Exempt certain authorized recreational providers from their three-hour operating limit, improving access to select before and after school programs for families with school-age children.
- Enhance health and safety protections in licensed child care settings, such as requirements to support contact tracing by local public health, new requirements for home-based child care and updates to the safe storage of potentially poisonous and hazardous items.
- Reduce regulatory/administrative burden on child care operators by removing redundant and unnecessary requirements for all providers. These include the removal of duplicate requirements related to the collection of children’s emergency contact information, allowing records and documents required by the regulation to be kept in digital format, and no longer requiring licensees to seek ministry approval for children 44 months and up to bring their own meals from home.
These changes are based on feedback from families and the early years and child care sector, as outlined in the Strengthening Early Years and Child Care in Ontario report, and the long-standing advocacy of community based non-profit organizations delivering before and after school programs.
By expanding access to before and after school programs, Ontario is promoting more child care options for working parents who maintain early, late, or irregular hours, or reside in communities with limited access to child care.
Please tune in to a #LIVE announcement with @SkellyHamilton on Ontario's support for working families with improvements to our child care and early years sector.https://t.co/Cg0O2t75by
— Stephen Lecce (@Sflecce) February 26, 2021
We are advancing safe, affordable and accessible child care to further support working families across the province.
Improving access
Strengthening safety standards
Cutting red tape for operators
Supporting families and #KeepingKidsSafe.https://t.co/4aqMoLesTv pic.twitter.com/e0AibTOxNP
— Stephen Lecce (@Sflecce) February 26, 2021
