Some B.C. parents could pay hundreds of dollars more for child care starting April 1

Kelowna child-care operator Amanda Worms says she has been calling parents at her daycare centres all week, telling them they will have to pay $350 more in monthly fees starting April 1.

Kelowna child-care operator Amanda Worms says she has been calling parents at her daycare centres all week, telling them they will have to pay $350 more in monthly fees starting April 1.

Worms says the increase is happening because the Ministry of Children and Family Development is unable to meet the April 1 deadline to approve funding that she has been receiving until now.

"This $350 could mean my families can't make their mortgage payments," said Worms, who owns and operates five daycare facilities in B.C.'s Interior.

"It's just really awful. You never want to be the person that does that. It's an unfair position to be put in. These families have been struggling for two years trying to manage through the pandemic and so have we. It's the government's responsibility to step up and do their job," added Worms.

Worms says she applied for a 3.7-per-cent fee increase on Jan. 31, to help pay for her staff's wage enhancements and to help account for the shortfall from the additional five sick days every B.C. worker was given this year, which affects her to the tune of $65,000. She tells CTV News she was told less than a week ago she would not be approved for the funding before April 1.

"Our base funding will be available to us sometime in the next week, but the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative (CCFRI) and wage enhancement is nowhere to be found," said Worms.

"I've been on the phone with the ministry for over six hours in the last week, trying to figure out what happened. It appears there was a technical glitch. Now, I have to tell parents that they have to pay the full fees on April 1 because we cannot survive without that funding," said Worms.