Child Care Wage Enhancement Grant (WEG) and Home Child Care Enhancement Grant (HCCEG)
The Province has made an ongoing funding commitment to support a wage enhancement for eligible child care professionals working in eligible centres/agencies. WEG/HCCEG will help retain RECEs, and support access to stable, high-quality child care programs for children in Ontario.
WEG supports an increase of up to $2 per hour, plus 17.5% benefits (applied only to any WEG increase) for eligible positions. The HCCEG supports an increase of up to $20 per day for eligible home child care providers contracted with an eligible home child care agency. The ministry will provide an additional supplemental grant of $150 for each eligible centre-based FTE or home visitor FTE and $50 for each eligible home child care provider.
Workforce Compensation Funding
Workforce compensation funding supports recruitment and retention of Ontario’s child care workforce through improved compensation for lower-wage earners. It includes:
- compensation enhancements for registered early childhood educator (RECE) staff (annual wage and wage floor increases), and
- support to licensees for non-RECE staff (minimum wage offset).
Who can apply?
The following groups are eligible to apply for WEG/HCCEG and workforce compensation to support staff working with children aged 6 to 12 years of age:
- Non-CWELCC-enrolled centres/agencies, exclusively serving children aged 6 to 12, and
- CWELCC-enrolled centres/agencies serving children aged 0 to 12, for the 6 to 12 component, and
Note that CWELCC-enrolled centres/agencies serving children aged 0 to 5 are eligible for WEG/HCCEG and workforce compensation funding. This funding is now built into benchmark allocations under cost-based funding.
To learn more about eligiblity requirements for WEG/HCCEG and workforce compensation, please refer to Chapter 3: Local Priorities Guideline of the Ontario Child Care and Early Years Funding Guidelines (https://efis.fma.csc.gov.on.ca/faab/CCChapters.htm)
Looking for more information?
Contact Children’s Services at [email protected] or call 519-426-6170 or 905-318-6623 ext. 3745.