Government of New Brunswick

Early Learning and Child Care Action Plan

early_childhood_category

Everyone at their best...from the start recognizes the importance of a child’s first five years, and outlines the steps government and its partners are taking to enhance the quality, accessibility, and affordability of early learning and child care in New Brunswick. 

How did we get here? Learn about the Early Learning and Child Care Action Plan and the findings from the Child Care Review Task Force Final Report.
   

How do you qualify for free or subsidized child care?

New Brunswick’s early learning and child care action plan provides for free and subsidized child care, offering parents the support they need to work, study and thrive.

This will ensure that no family will pay more than 20 per cent of their income for care at a designated New Brunswick Early Learning Centre.

Find out if you qualify by using this estimator.

Early Learning Action Plans

Information for Parents
Information for Child Care Operators

Our plan for early learning and child care will enhance:

  

Quality

  • Daycares in New Brunswick will be able to apply for a One-time Quality Improvement Grant to increase the quality of both indoor and outdoor learning environments, including equipment and materials, for children aged five and under. The one-time grants will total $4.7 million over the next two years.
     
  • $7.5 million in annual Quality Grants will be provided to help the facilities deliver high-quality child care services and meet the criteria of becoming a designated New Brunswick Early Learning Centre. The funding equates to a daily funding enhancement of $3.00 per space per day for children aged two to five years old. All early learning centre operators will be required to develop a plan for continuous quality improvement.
     
  • New Brunswick Early Learning Centres will offer services to preschool children aged five and under through a voluntary application process. Daycares are not required to be part of this program. Those that choose to do so will work in collaboration with the government with the aim of offering equitable and affordable access to high-quality early learning and child care services by removing barriers linked to family income, children’s abilities and needs, language and minority settings.
     
  • The government is investing $28 million, in addition to the multi-year bilateral funding, to support wage increases for early childhood educators. The funding will be rolled out over four years beginning in 2019-20 and raise wages from $16 an hour to $19 an hour for trained early childhood educators by 2022-23. 

  

Accessibility

  • A new child care registry will serve as a one-stop shop for families to register their children for available child care spaces and have access to apply for subsidies online. Families will also be able to determine immediately whether spaces are available in a facility or if there is a wait list.  
      
  • An Infant Operator Grant will be available to offset operational costs of infant care. It will provide $15 per occupied infant space per day.
      
  • Transforming as many child care facilities as possible, with an aim of designating more than 300 as New Brunswick Early Learning Centres by 2020 to offer more affordable, accessible, inclusive and high-quality early learning and child care services.
  • Early Learning Centres will also receive support to help increase the number of infant spaces across the province by 200 by the year 2020.
  • Since October 2014 the provincial government has created nearly 3,000 new spaces and plans to expand the total number of spaces in New Brunswick to 30,000 by 2020.

   

Affordability

  • The government is committed to investing in access to affordability for those New Brunswickers who need it the most. Families with an annual gross income under $37,500 will have access to free child care. The free daycare program is for parents who are either working or attending school, with children aged five and under attending a designated New Brunswick Early Learning Centre.
       
  • The average New Brunswick household’s gross annual income is $75,700. Subsidies will be available for families with annual gross incomes of over $37,500 on a sliding scale. No family in New Brunswick will pay more than 20% of their gross annual family income to cover child care costs while their child is attending a New Brunswick Early Learning Centre.

    These subsidies, along with the existing Daycare Assistance Program, will help make quality child care more affordable and accessible for even more New Brunswick families. Examples of how this will work are available online.  

  • Find out if you qualify for free or subsidized child care by using this estimator.