Alberta Child Care Grant Funding Program

Wage top-up funding provides a wage enhancement for certified frontline staff who:

• provide direct childcare, including program supervisors and alternate supervisors (as defined in the Early Learning and Child Care Regulation), as well as individuals hired as coordinators or home visitors/consultants with a licensed family day home agency.
• are certified as an ECE Level 1, 2 or 3
• meet the conditions for eligible hours (see the Funding Guide)

Table 1. Wage Top-up Rates

Funding is paid monthly up to a maximum of 181 hours at the following rates.

Table 2. Average employer-paid wages before and after government wage top-up funding

Professional development funding is for certified ECEs who:

• provide direct childcare, including program supervisors and alternate supervisors (as defined in the Early Learning and Child Care Regulation), as well as individuals hired as coordinators or home visitors/consultants with a licensed family day home agency.
• are certified as an ECE Level 1, 2 or 3
• are a Canadian citizen or an official permanent resident of Canada
• have worked at least 29 hours in at least 1 month before the date of the expense or the date the application was received

Table 3. Professional development funding rates (effective September 1, 2021)

Release time funding is for certified ECEs who:

• are eligible for professional development funding
• have paid for or enrolled in a post-secondary course, workshop or conference that is approved for professional development funding

Table 4. Release time funding rates paid to ECEs and employers

Programs can receive mandatory employer contribution funding for each ECE staff member who receives wage top-up funding, provided the program also makes CPP contributions and pays EI and WCB premiums for that staff member.

Mandatory employer contribution funding is paid at the rate of 9.51% of the wage top-up funding received by the program, approximately representing the program’s required CPP, EI and WCB payroll expenditures related to the wage top-ups.

Read the Funding Guide before applying to learn details about eligibility, the application process and requirements.

A program’s licence holder or a legal representative with signing authority must have an account and log in to the Childcare Licensing Portal (the portal) to request, review and sign the grant agreement.

Information on how to create a new portal account can be found on Submit a monthly claim. If you do not already have an account, read through the instructions on that page, then return here to continue with Step 3.

Once logged in to the portal, follow instructions below to access and sign the grant agreement:

• Childcare Licensing Portal– Signing Wage Top-up & PD Grant Agreement

Note: This agreement includes funding for release time and mandatory employer contributions, along with wage top-ups and professional development (PD).

This funding is paid based on monthly hours claimed by the program. Programs must submit a monthly claim identifying staff names, eligible hours worked and employer-paid wage within 60 days of the last calendar day of each month.

Programs will receive payment within 5 to 10 business days, along with a summary statement listing amounts that must be paid to each staff member.

A separate form is required to receive professional development and release time funding. Programs must fill out and follow submission instructions in the form below:

• Professional Development Funding Request form
• To request release time funding along with professional development funding, programs must fill in the relevant section in the form above.

Note: Fillable PDF forms may not open properly on some mobile devices and web browsers. See the step-by-step guide or contact PDF form technical support.

Programs will receive written notification of approval or an explanation if funding was not approved. Approved funding amounts will be paid as part of the overall deposit when the next monthly claim is processed.