Child-care providers say they aren't getting paid on time, leaving families in a tight spot
PC education critic says he can't count how many complaints he's received
Renee Francavilla owns and operates Teeter Tots child care from her home in Paradise, and says she's supposed to get paid once every three months — but her paycheques often don't come in on time.
"It was difficult for me to buy diapers for my own son," said Francavilla, who has two children.
"One of the weeks I was opening the fridge and I think to myself, like, 'When am I going to feed my family tonight? And that is something that nobody should ever have to worry about."
PC education critic Paul Dinn says he can't count how many families and care providers have contacted him to complain about delays in payments through the provincial government's operating grant program, which offers $10-a-day daycare to families.
A lot of it comes down to communication, he says, and it's up to the provincial government to untangle the red tape.
"There's been a whole labyrinth of issues that have been brought forward," said Dinn of what he's heard from families and daycare providers.
Operating grant program
Under the operating grant program, family child-care operators like Francavilla have to submit a form every month with details about the children enrolled in the daycare program.
In an email sent to care providers obtained by CBC News, the OGP program says quarterly payments are issued to providers within 10 business days after the form has been submitted.
Francavilla says she sent an email to the program around a week and a half after submitting her most recent form, asking why she hasn't been paid. She was told her form was illegible, but a few days after resending the form, she still hadn't received her pay.
She followed up with the provincial government again asking for clarification, and says the program asked her to provide information she already provided in the form.
After some back and forth, she received the money Tuesday — 20 days after she submitted the form.
"I was kind of shocked as the day went by," said Francavilla, who says she knows other care providers who have considered closing their business altogether because of payment delays.
"We all have bills, we all have, you know, car payments, mortgages. Things have not been able to get paid in the manner that they should have been paid."
In an emailed statement to CBC News, Education Department spokesperson Angela Picco said there have been no delays in payment to child-care providers.
Picco said service providers "who were compliant" with the OGP policy received their payments on time.
During the end of June, teachers in the province woke up to a missing paycheque due to an error within the province's Finance Department. Picco said in a statement that the incident is unrelated to delays in child-care payments, as family child-care providers are "self-employed and not on government payroll."
Francavilla says she had to dip into her savings to help feed the five children currently in her daycare program, as well as her own kids. In the year Teeter Tots has been operating, she said, she believes her payments have been delayed four times.
The provincial government needs to be more transparent and communicate more frequently with care providers, says Francavilla. She also says the forms providers have to fill out are too convoluted.
Dinn says he's holding a town hall meeting Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Topsail United Church basement for families and providers who want to voice their concerns about the program.
"There should be a process in place that ensures that transition or that the gap in payment is shortened or resolved altogether," said Dinn, "either by allowing operators to apply earlier in the quarter or advancing them a payment."
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