On April 1, 2025, Alberta’s government is introducing three unique Affordability Funding approaches for daycare providers, preschools and family day homes to enable the continued delivery of high quality child care across the province and further implement the Canada-Alberta Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement (CACWELCC). With these new funding approaches, funding will be more streamlined and equitable, with about 85 per cent of day care providers and the majority of family day homes seeing increases. These changes will also help to ensure that high quality child care remains affordable and sustainable for families across Alberta. What does this mean for parents? Currently, parents across Alberta pay a variable rate for their child care, with some paying well above $15 a day and others paying less.

 Starting April 1, 2025, a flat and predictable monthly parent fee of $326.25 will be introduced for all children zero to kindergarten age (attending child care during school hours) enrolled in full-time care (100 hours or more a month) in licensed daycares and family day homes across Alberta. This is equivalent to $15 a day.

Understanding that providers require flexibility to meet the needs of the families they serve, programs will be permitted to charge supplemental fees for services that are optional for parents. Examples of optional services where a supplemental parent fee may be charged include transportation, field trips, meals, extracurricular activities and diapers.