Workforce Compensation

For Child Care Licensees and Canada-Wide Early Learning & Child Care System (CWELCC) Participants

What is Workforce Compensation?

Workforce compensation is funding from the Ontario government to help recruit and retain child care staff by:

  • Increasing wages for Registered Early Childhood Educator (RECE) staff
  • Offsetting minimum wage costs for non-RECE program staff

Who’s Eligible?

Funding applies to:

  1. CWELCC-enrolled centres/agencies serving children 0 to 12
  2. Non-CWELCC centres/agencies serving only children 6 to 12

There are two types of support depending on staff roles and the age group of children served.

Workforce Compensation Overview

  1. Annual Wage Increase for RECE Staff, RECE Supervisors and Home Visitors
    • Up to $1 per hour per year + 17.5% for benefits.
    • Compounded year over year (for example, $1 in 2023 + $1 in 2024 + $1 in 2025 = $3 total by 2025).
    • Only applies if staff earn less than the wage eligibility ceiling chart for that year.
      • Wage Eligibility Ceiling
      2022
      2023
      2024
      2025
      2026
      RECE Program Staff
      $25.00
      $25.00
      $26.00
      $27.00
      $28.00
      RECE Child Care Supervisors or RECE Home Child Care Visitors
      $25.00
      $25.00
      $29.00
      $30.00
      $31.00
  2. Wage Floor
    • After Annual Wage Increase for RECE Staff, RECE Supervisors and Home Visitors, if wages are still below wage floor, a top-up to the wage floor will be granted.
      • Hourly Wage Floor 2022 to 2026
      2022
      2023
      2024
      2025
      2026
      RECE Program Staff
      $18.00
      $19.00
      $23.86
      $24.86
      $25.86
      RECE Child Care Supervisors or RECE Home Child Care Visitors
      $20.00
      $21.00
      $24.86
      $25.86
      $26.86
  3. Minimum Wage Offset (Non-RECE Program Staff)
    • Helps cover increases if the staff earned below minimum wage prior to October 2022 or 2023.
    • Funding is up to $1.55 per hour and will stay the same in 2025 as it was in 2024.
    • Applies only if the non-RECE staff work at least 25% of their time in ratio (for example, directly with children).

Steps to Calculate and Order of Operations

  1. Start with the staff's current base wage
    • This is their regular hourly pay from your centre.
       Includes minimum wage and any raises you've already provided.
  2. Add General Operating Funding (GOG) used for wages
    • If you use general operating funds to top up staff wages, include that amount here.
    • Do not include Wage Enhancement Grant (WEG) or Workforce Compensation at this step.
  3. Add Wage Enhancement Grant (WEG)
    • Up to $2 per hour, if the staff and centre are eligible.
    • WEG has its own eligibility and rules and is separate from workforce compensation.
  4. Add the Workforce Compensation Annual Wage Increase
    • Up to $1 per hour per year, compounded annually (for example, $3 per hour max by end of 2025, if eligible since 2023).
    • Only apply if total wage is still below the wage eligibility ceiling (for example, $27 per hour for RECE program staff in 2025).
    • Apply the increase only until the staff reaches the ceiling — not above.
  5. Top Up to the Wage Floor (if needed)
    • If, after all the above steps, the staff’s wage is still below the required wage floor, top it up using workforce compensation funds.

    For 2025:

    • RECE Program Staff must earn at least $24.86 per hour.
    • RECE Supervisors/Home Visitors must earn at least $25.86 per hour.

See link for more information: Ontario Child Care and Early Years Funding Guidelines. Chapter 3: Local Priorities Guideline.