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When the current $10-a-day daycare program is fully implemented in Saskatchewan, daycare providers say some parents could lose their kids’ spots and be out of luck to find new ones.
Last week, the province announced it would be getting to that $10-a-day mark years earlier than had been planned.
But as that happens April 1, providers say they’ve been told the province will also stop providing payment for part-time and drop-in care.
“This is a kick in the face to home care providers,” said Brittany Pelletier, who runs a home daycare in Saskatoon with 10 kids under six, with only one girl at full-time.
Pelletier said she was told she could still have part-time and drop-in care and charge those parents $10 a day, but without the province providing the rest of that fee, it’s not worth it.
“It no longer makes sense to just host an extra child (and) squeeze them into the routine — it’s usually pretty tough to accommodate a kid who’s not used to the routine — for $10 a day. There’s really not a bonus there,” she explained.
Pelletier said she stands to lose $500 a month with this change.
“It may not be much to some but to me it is a loss of opportunity to pay off debt — some of which I’ve accrued opening my licensed daycare — have small emergency savings, or even just a peace of mind to not be living paycheque to paycheque,” said Pelletier.
Before the program came in, Pelletier said providers were already working for not much pay and for some this will make it worse.
“We think that this is a career that should be respected and pays accordingly,” said Pelletier.
Some parents rely on part-time and drop-in care because of a work schedule outside 9 to 5.
Nichole Kessel is the director of Whitewood Wiggle and Giggles Childcare Centre Inc., and vice-chairperson of the southeast Saskatchewan directors association. It represents other centres, including two in Moosomin and Carnduff that only provide hourly care.
Kessel explained they have a lot of family where the parents do shift work in mines or health care and spend their off time at home with the kids and only need child care 12 or 13 days a month. She said now, they can only have their kids in for nine days; any more than that and they have to move to a full-time spot.
“But there’s no full-time space to move into, so it is leaving them without child care,” said Kessel. “The push to get this going, it is making child care less accessible.”
Providers are also complaining that they can’t get a clear, straight answer about the program changes from the ministry. The claim one representative will say one thing, while another says something different.
Pelletier and Kessel were at the Legislature on Tuesday at the invitation of the Saskatchewan NDP. Meara Conway, the NDP’s child care and early learning critic, said the problem could have been avoided if the provincial government had done consultation with providers.
“We support $10-a-day daycare but the details matter. This should take place in a well-thought-out, sustainable way, in a way that eases the transition for families, providers and the (kids) that rely on child care,” said Conway.
The critic said the province was too concerned with getting a good headline out of the program instead of putting together a good policy.
Education Minister Dustin Duncan, who oversees the child-care program, said the province was concentrating on getting to that fee reduction first.
“We focused on getting to, as quickly as possible, the fee reductions including the $10 a day, so that we didn’t essentially leave money on the table,” said Duncan.
The minister explained the deal was signed halfway through the fiscal year and there’s only so much carryover from year to year. He said people would likely have been critical of the province for leaving money on the table, and “rightly” so.
Duncan acknowledged the child-care industry has issues like workforce and a wage scale, but he said that will take a long time to work out, as will creating more child-care spaces because of those issues.
He said focusing on that first would have satisfied a lot of people but would have left a lot of money on the table.
“That takes a lot more time than just doing a 50 per cent reduction in fees, then a 70 per cent reduction in fees and then ultimately getting to where we’ll be on April 1, to the $10 a day,” said Duncan.
He said the intent with moving ahead with the program is to increase affordability, not for children to be left without a spot. Duncan said the province will be providing bridging funding until the end of June to give time to sort out these issues.