The provincial government's new Affordable Child Care Benefit (ACCB) will help support 4 times as many families as the previous child care subsidy.
Over 80-thousand families are now eligible for some level of support, whereas the previous subsidy only supported 20-thousand families. The previous household income threshold was $55,000 but families earning up to $111,000 are now eligible.
Premier John Horgan says families throughout the province have been struggling with the rising cost of child care. He hopes to make a difference for families, so they can get a little further ahead every month, and parents can choose to rejoin the workforce.
Minister of Children and Family Development, Katrine Conroy, says the new, expanded benefit will give parents more options, whether they choose to rejoin the workforce, find quality child care, or just have a bit more breathing room in their monthly budgets. She adds that the benefit will make life better for families.
The ACCB also boosts the amount for infant/toddler care, up from 750 dollars per child to 1,250 dollars.
The Affordable Child Care Benefit is part of the government's Child Care BC Plan, which the provincial government is investing more than $1-billion over the next three years in order to lay the foundation for a universal child care system.