Providers

Become a Provider

Are you interested in running a licensed home child care in your home? Licensed Home Child Care is typically for children 6 weeks to 12 years old. See below for some perks of becoming a licensed home child care provider:

You're still the boss
As a licensed provider, you would operate your own business and contract your services to the agency. You may offer part-time, full-time or on-call flexible care, the choice is yours.
Professional support
Becoming a licensed home child care provider offers you the chance to work with an agency that provides business supports and training opportunities. The agency employs professionals with training and experience in child development and early childhood education.
Stable income
As a licensed home child care, families enrolled with you can apply for fee subsidy. This helps to stabilize your income if you have families that sometimes struggle to afford childcare. Any fees covered by fee subsidy will be paid directly to you through your agency and from Lanark County.
Wage subsidy
You could be eligible to receive up to $20/day for each day you operate in a year.

To become a licensed child care provider in Ontario, please visit the Ontario Government’s website regarding the process and information. Operating a licensed child care program | ontario.ca

Contact Lanark County’s licensed home child care agency for more information on what they offer: CROW’s Licensed Home Child Care

Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC)

The Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system supports quality, accessibility, affordability, and inclusivity in early learning licensed child care serving eligible children.

Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) Agreement

The federal and provincial governments have signed the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) agreement aimed at making child care more affordable for families.

If you have a child under six (6) years of age in licensed child care and the centre chooses to participate in the agreement, you may receive a 25% child care fee reduction as of April 1, 2022. An additional 27.75% fee reduction (52.75% total) took place January 1, 2023. If your licensed child care provider decides to participate and is approved, they will let you know when you can receive your refund. If your provider decides not to participate in the agreement, they must let you know.

We encourage parents/caregivers to reach out to their child care providers for any questions related to whether your child care provider intends to apply to participate in the agreement.

Ontario’s Action Plan

The agreement focuses on 5 key pillars:

Lowering Fees
To ensure child care is more affordable for families, we are lowering average fees for CWELCC-enrolled licensed child care programs through a phased approach:

  1. As of April 1, 2022, we reduced fees by up to 25%.
  2. As of December 31, 2022, we further reduced fees by up to another 37%, bringing the provincial average fee to $23 per day (50% of 2020 fees).
  3. As of January 1, 2025, we capped the reduced fees at $22 per day, bringing the provincial average to $19 per day.
  4. By March 2026, we will lower fees to an average of $10 per day.

Increasing Access
To provide families with more child care options and address increasing demand for child care, we are:

  • creating 86,000 net new licensed child care spaces by the end of 2026
  • supporting expansion of new child care spaces in geographic areas and diverse communities where they are needed most (for example, children with special needs, Indigenous and Francophone communities)

Enhancing Quality
To ensure families have access to high-quality licensed child care, we are:

  • improving compensation for lower-wage Registered Early Childhood Educators working with children up to age 12 in licensed child care
  • implementing a workforce strategy to support RECEs employed by CWELCC-enrolled child care providers and a multipronged strategy to better support the recruitment and retention of qualified professionals and professional learning supports for child care and early years staff

Supporting Inclusion
To support the needs of diverse communities and populations, we engaged with a broad range of partners to:

  • ensure space expansion plans and all child care and early years programs are designed to support the needs of vulnerable and diverse populations in your communities (such as Indigenous, Francophone, Black and other racialized groups, newcomers, low-income families and children with special needs)
  • gather data and assess the barriers to access for children of diverse populations and children with varying abilities
  • release Ontario’s Access and Inclusion Framework, which supports service system managers in developing and implementing local service plans with an increased focus on access as it relates to inclusion
    • this includes identifying their priority neighbourhoods and/or priority populations for space creation under CWELCC

Enhanced Data and Reporting
To monitor our progress and support families, we will continue to:

  • use evidence-based analysis to evaluate and improve how the child care system supports children and families
  • report regularly on our progress toward meeting federal requirements using enhanced data collection and analytics capabilities

Lanark County Directed Growth Plan

In 2023, Lanark County developed its Directed Growth Plan in partnership with the Ministry of Education.  As part of this initiative, the County received a CWELCC space target of 170 new community-based child care spaces over a five-year period (2022–2026).  In 2025, the County’s Directed Growth Plan was updated to reflect the approved expansion projects, and information regarding the Canada-Ontario Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) Infrastructure Fund.

Currently, CWELCC expansion spaces are filled.  If you are a Provider interested in applying for CWELCC, please reach out to cs@lanarkcounty.ca for additional information.

Participating CWELCC Child Care Operators in Lanark County

Beckwith

Carleton Place

Mississippi Mills

Perth

Smiths Falls

For additional information on CWELCC, visit Canada-Ontario early years and child care agreement | ontario.ca

Wage Supports

The Wage Enhancement Grant (WEG) and Home Child Care Enhancement Grant (HCCEG) can help eligible child care staff and home child care providers by supplementing their income.

  • Child care centre staff can receive up to $2/hr increase
  • Home child care operators can receive up to $20/day

Wage Enhancement FAQs

Who is eligible?
As a CWELCC licensed child care you are eligible if…

  • You have staff that earn less per hour than the centre based wage cap.
    • The 2025 wage cap is $32.81/hour.

As a CWELCC licensed Home Child Care Agency you are eligible if…

  • You have contracted home child cares that make less than the daily fees caps.
    • The 2025 daily fees caps are
      • Full time (6+hr/day) $328.10 in fees/day
      • Part time (under 6hr/day) $196.86 in fees/day

How do I apply for WEG/HCCEG?
Please contact Children’s Services at cs@lanarkcounty.ca for additional information on how to apply.
What happens if I am approved for WEG/HCCEG?

  • We will notify you of the amount you will receive.
  • You will receive the funds via Electronic funds transfer (EFT).
  • You can pay eligible staff or home child care operators what they qualify for as part of their regular pay.
  • At the end of the calendar year you will complete a financial reconciliation for funding you have received.

How do I continue receiving WEG/HCCEG?
You must apply every year:

  • Child care centres on behalf of their staff.
  • Licensed home child care agencies on behalf of their operators.

You must complete the reconciliation for funds received in the previous year on time.

Why does the Province fund this grant?
The Province’s goals with this funding is to:

  • Close the wage gap between Early Childhood Educators (ECE) wages in the education sector and licensed child care sector.
  • Stabilize licensed child care operators by helping them retain ECEs and child care staff.
  • Support greater employment and income security for ECEs and child care operators.

If you have any questions, please contact Children’s Services at cs@lanarkcounty.ca.