Alberta parents could get one-time benefit of $561 per kid for child care

CALGARY (660 NEWS) – Alberta’s UCP government is providing a new, one-time benefit to help parents who relied on child care while working last year.

The new Working Parents Benefit will see $108 million given to families that used child care, including licensed or unlicensed daycare, day homes, out-of-school care, or preschool, from April to December 2020.

The payment of $561 is available for families with a household income $100,000 or less per year and for those who paid for at least three months of care.

“Families are facing additional stress due to the pandemic and the uncertainty in the economy,” said Minister for Children’s Services Rebecca Schulz. “We want to directly support these parents by alleviating the financial pressures they have faced this past year.”

The government said the $108 million is from funds unspent for child services in Alberta.

However, this news comes on the heels of the province’s $25-a-day child care program ending for about 100 federally funded centres on Mar. 31.

Funding for 22 provincially funded centres ended on July 31, 2020.

On average, that program cost the government $8,670 per child per year while the UCP’s subsidy works out to an average of $6,084 per child a year.

That $25-a-day child care program was introduced as a pilot project by the previous Alberta NDP government in 2017.

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