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The B.C. government is introducing new rules that should help reduce the cost of child care for some families.
Starting April 1, child care providers will be required to provide at least 9.5 hours of care before charging for extending hours.
At the moment, the provincial government says 95 per cent of child care providers are doing that, but now the remaining five per cent will have to adjust their hours.
“Families deserve predictability and fairness,” Lisa Beare, Minister of Education and Child Care said in a statement.
“By setting a clear threshold, we’re closing a loophole to make sure hard-working parents aren’t paying more for a reasonable day of care. These changes protect the pocketbooks of B.C. families and establish consistency for providers, while maintaining their flexibility to design programs that meet community needs.”
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People who have been pushing for greater access to $10-a-day child care say this is a long-overdue measure to help families.
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“We have been calling on the province for years to make this change so parents aren’t gouged by unfair extra fees,” Sharon Gregson with the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC said.
“Nobody thinks that a full day of child care should really only be five or six hours.”
Gregson says the province has failed to live up to a promise made years ago for universal $10-a-day child care, as it is currently only offered by 10 per cent of providers.
She says some parents in Vancouver are paying up to $3,000 a month for child care.
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