Can some explain Quebec $7.40 daycare system. Lot of questions.

[kindertime]

Part Two:


I set up my own payment schedule and terms of payment. The law says; "The contribution is to be paid monthly or at fixed intervals of less than 1 month, in approximately equal instalments." I chose to be paid by the parents every second week on Friday for the upcoming 2 week period. So they pay me in advance. The subsidy is paid after. I submit an attendance sheet and a claim sheet to the office every 2 weeks and we get paid every second week on a Thursday. So, for example, I will get paid the subsidy on Oct 8th for Sept 14th through 25th. And the parents paid me for those 2 weeks on Sept. 11th. The CO is in charge of distributing the subsidy (by bank deposit) to all the HCPs it recognizes. HCPs are responsible for collecting money from their parent clients.

I am not sure exactly how it works between the CO and the gov't but they will have an idea approximately how much each pay out will be based on the number of spaces they have distributed and by our contracts with parents. So my CO has about 200 spaces divided up between 25 or so HCPs. I personally ran all last year with one space open (so I only had 5 kids) because I wanted to. They wanted me to fill that space but currently, there isn't any way for them to force me to fill it. I also know that the amount the CO receives from the gov't isn't just the amount to pay us. They have staff and expenses to pay too. So I think, if lots of people went like me and didn't fill all their spaces, then the CO would receive less money too.

At the time I was recognized, the parents paid me $7/ day. The subsidy amount was about $17.50. So for each day, I was paid a total of $24.50 per child. I didn't have any infants at the time but the extra per day for under 18m was about $9. In my first three years, the gov't was in the habit of increasing the subsidy by about 50 cents per year. Then they stopped at $19. Basically, there was a court ruling allowing us to be unionized and so the government stopped increasing the subsidy amount in anticipation of collective bargaining.

Currently, because we are unionized, and there have now been 2 collective agreements, we have an increase to the subsidy and guaranteed increases yearly. Today, the amount is $27.85/child/day. Infants (under 18mths) are $10.41/day extra. There are a couple of other numbers for special needs children and school aged, etc, but I don't know them off the top of my head.

I should also note here that recognition for one person (like me) can be for up to 6 children under 9yo and a maximum of 2 of them can be under 18mths. If recognition for one person with an assistant is for up to 9 children, a maximum of 4 of them can be under 18mths. Edited: Parents of infants pay the same as for older children.

The $7.30 that parents pay entitles them to; 1. all of the educational materials required to meet the educational program standards; 2. a maximum of 10 hours of care per day; 3. and 1 meal and 2 snacks in those 10 hours.

Subsidized HCPs have rules to follow with regards to payments from parents. Except for 4 special situations, I am not allowed to charge more than $7.30/day. I can charge extra for; 1. more than 10 hours of care per day, 2. extra personal care items, like sunscreen, toothbrushes, diaper wipes, etc. (if parents provide them, then they can't be charged; ) 3. special outings/field trips; 4; an extra meal. This last one is tricky for a lot of people.

I set my own lunch and snack times. If the parent doesn't bring their child in time for snack, or picks up before it's served, then they don't get it. But I cannot charge extra for a "fancy meal" or anything like that. The extra meal could be breakfast and the HCP is free to charge whatever she wants for that, but, and this is what trips some people up. Under no circumstances is an HCP allowed to require that the parent pays the extra amount. If they don't pay, they don't get the extra meal, of course, but what sometimes happens is the HCP gets to liking charging the extra amount and when a parent asks, "how much do you charge?" The HCP will say "$8." That's illegal.

I set my own hours, 6:30 - 4:30. A full day is considered any length of time over 4.5 hours, up to 10 hours. Although I don't have to be open for 10 hours, it is generally assumed that you should be and I haven't really wanted to change.

I set all of my own policies, schedule and menu too. In many ways, I can run my business like anyone else in the country. There are a few restrictions, however.

1. I cannot receive any money from any parent before their child sets foot in my house for their first day. So there are no deposits or holding fees here. This is from the Consumer Protection Act, not specifically daycare related. If the parent has made a contract to start Sept 1st, but the child is sick on the 1st and the next 3 days, they do not pay for those 4 days. They come on the 5th and start paying on that day but, then, they pay in the manner I have determined in my contract. So if they come on day 1 but are sick for the next 10 days, they will still pay for those 10 sick days. This is true of the subsidy too. Until the child actually sets foot in my house, nothing, no matter the contract. But, if on day one, the child comes for only 30 minutes, that's considered a start.

2. I must close on 8 stat days and an additional 17 days in the year. This comes from the collective agreement. I am allowed to charge parents when I am closed. I am also allowed to close for more than those 25 days, and charge for them. And I am also allowed to charge for unexpected closings if it is written in the contract. I have always taken holidays before it was required, but this is a problem for a lot of HCPs because they never did close. They would hire someone to come in if they wanted to take time off. They can't do that anymore. It also leaves us vulnerable to the centers. They don't have to close that much so for parents who like to send their kids every single day of the year, the centers are better.

3. Also from the Consumer Protection Act, if a parent cancels the contract, they are not required to give any notice. They have to do it in writing, but beyond that, no notice. If the parent does cancel with or without notice, I am allowed to charge; either $50; or 10% of what's remaining in the contract, whichever is less. So at $7.30/day, if there are 100 days remaining in the contract, that's $730, and 10% is $73, so the max I could charge is $50. It is such a small amount, if they don't want to pay, how am I going to make them? So I don't even bother.

4. It is such a can of worms, and I have mixed feelings about it overall, but we are now unionized. In terms of money, we do get a higher subsidy amount, and we are paid subsidy for those 25 days of closure, but, we pay dues and we have a health/life insurance plan we have to pay into. It is expensive. Then, on the flip side, we are entitled to social protections like maternity leave and workman's compensation benefits (CSST) in case of injury. We weren't before unionization. Also, in Quebec, there is a plan for pregnant childcare workers, called preventative leave. Is it available in other parts of the country? So a woman who works with children finds out she's pregnant, she can take paid leave from that day on until the end of her normal EI - 12 month mat leave. It used to only be available for daycare center workers because it is paid through CSST but now we can get it too. So that's good.

To be continued...