The B.C. government announced today it is investing $20 million in one-time grants to help licensed child care providers meet the challenges of additional pandemic-related health and safety costs.

The 2022 Health and Safety Grant helps address concerns raised by child care professionals due to the rise of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19. These funds can be used to buy cleaning supplies, sanitizer or masks, to hire an external company to clean, or additional staff to cover absences due to illness and to meet local needs.

Licensed providers who are open and regularly receiving provincial funding will get a grant of $160 per space based on the facility’s maximum capacity. This means a group provider with 25 spaces can expect to receive a grant of about $4,000.

“Child care professionals are the heart of child care and they have been working tirelessly since the pandemic started. As a parent of a young child, I know first-hand the tremendous difference their support is making to families and communities,” said Katrina Chen, Minister of State for Child Care. “We are committed to responding to the needs of child care providers during this ever-changing situation. These new grants will help child care providers continue to keep children safe and healthy by providing funding for COVID-related staffing, supplies and cleaning needs.”

The ministry will calculate the grant and provide it to operators who receive Child Care Operating Funding (CCOF) and those participating as $10-a-Day ChildCareBC sites (formerly Universal Child Care Prototype Sites).

The grants will be issued in early to mid-February and will support providers for the coming year.

“Making sure that child care centres continue to be safe spaces for children and professionals is a top priority,” Chen said. “That’s why, since spring 2020, we have provided more than $320 million in temporary emergency funding and, with this, more than $73 million in health and safety grants.”

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