In ChildFriendly Pro's summer 2025 Lunch & Learn, child care operator Krystal Churcher explained that, as she described Alberta's April 1, 2025 flat-fee model ($15 a day, or $326.25 a month for full-time care), supplementary parent fees must be optional, invoiced separately and reported to the ministry within 30 days of signing the Affordability Grant agreement, on 30 days' notice of any change, and annually.
What the session covered
According to host Krystal Churcher, Alberta moved licensed child care to a flat-fee funding model on April 1, 2025. She said parents pay $15 a day regardless of income, which she gave as $326.25 a month for full-time care and $230 a month for part-time care, paid directly to the operator, with the remainder paid through the Affordability Grant. As Churcher described it, the parent fee and the Affordability Grant together are intended to cover core funding: regulatory requirements, essential child care services, basic programming such as the FLIGHT framework, and qualified staff in ratio. Anything outside core funding may only be charged as a supplementary parent fee. Churcher said supplementary fees must be optional, clearly communicated at registration, and paired with a core option for families who opt out, such as food from home when a center offers a meal service. Because each supplementary fee carries ministry reporting obligations, she recommended that centers that implemented them from April 1 track amounts, frequency and participation throughout the year rather than reconstructing them at fiscal year-end.
What can Alberta child care centers charge as a supplementary fee, and what is prohibited?
Churcher described supplementary fees as charges outside core costs that a center bills directly to families, separated on the invoice and in addition to the flat monthly parent fee. She said the Government of Alberta package sent to operators lists the eligible optional services. Meal programs, she reported, are the most common, followed by field trips and transportation, and that other categories have proven difficult for centers to implement. According to Churcher, prohibited charges include extra operating costs, equipment fees and anything already included in the core cost of running the center. She said families must have a clear choice to opt in or out with no effect on the care their child receives; the child's routine cannot be broken, and centers cannot discriminate against or show preferential treatment to families who opt out. Churcher noted that because the program is government funded, fees must be approved, and that meals, field trips and transportation appeared to be the services the ministry was accepting. She recommended running any other type of program past the ministry before announcing it to parents.
When and what must centers report to the Alberta ministry about supplementary fees?
Churcher described three reporting points. First, she said the Affordability Grant agreement requires centers to submit a detailed list of supplementary services within 30 days of signing it. As she described it, the list includes for each service the type of fee, a description of what it includes (for example, two snacks and one meal), the amount, the frequency of the charge (daily, weekly, monthly or annually) and the number of children who have opted in. Second, according to Churcher, centers must give the ministry 30 days' notice of any change to a fee amount, what it includes or its frequency. Third, she described an annual report, which she expected to align with annual Affordability Grant reporting at fiscal year-end, stating every supplementary fee charged that year, any changes, the total revenue generated and the number of children who participated in each optional service. At the time of the session, the ministry had not published a submission process; Churcher told attendees there was no place to file the report yet and advised tracking the data in the meantime.
Alberta supplementary parent fee rules and reporting checklist from the session
| Time | Key point | What centers should do |
|---|---|---|
| 02:01 | Churcher: from April 1, 2025 Alberta uses a flat parent fee of $15 a day, not means-tested: $326.25 a month full-time, $230 a month part-time. The Affordability Grant pays the rest. | Bill the capped parent portion to families and the remainder to the Affordability Grant. |
| 02:56 | Churcher: core funding covers regulatory requirements, essential services, basic programming such as FLIGHT, and qualified staff in ratio. | Do not charge families separately for anything inside core funding. |
| 03:49 | Churcher: supplementary fees must be optional, clearly communicated, and families must be able to choose whether to participate. | Offer a core option for every supplementary service, such as food from home when a meal service is offered. |
| 04:51 | Churcher: opting out cannot affect care, break the child's routine or lead to discrimination. Extra operating costs and equipment fees are prohibited. | Explain fees, costs and how to opt out at registration, and keep fees on a separate invoice line. |
| 06:10 | Churcher: the Government of Alberta package lists eligible optional services. Meals are most common, followed by field trips and transportation. | Check each planned fee against the ministry list before charging it. |
| 07:21 | Churcher recommended documenting each fee's type, amount, frequency and the number of children enrolled in it. | Keep a running record per service from the day the fee starts. |
| 08:04 | Churcher: a detailed list of supplementary services is due within 30 days of signing the Affordability Grant agreement. | Submit the description, amount, frequency and opt-in count for every service. |
| 09:03 | Churcher: any change to a fee, what it includes or its frequency needs 30 days' notice to the ministry. | Notify the ministry before changing a fee or its contents. |
| 09:24 | Churcher: annual reporting covers all fees charged, changes, total revenue from supplementary fees and participation per service. | Track revenue and participation monthly so year-end reporting does not require reconstruction. |
| 23:22 | Churcher: fees must be approved by the government; services outside meals, field trips and transportation have drawn questions. | Run unusual programs past the ministry before sending them to parents. |
How ChildFriendly Pro automates this
Churcher described supplementary fee tracking as something many operators were doing by hand or in spreadsheets, with year-end reconstruction as the risk. In the demo starting at 11:33, ChildFriendly Pro onboarding consultant Wayne Chen added a meal service fee to a family's recurring billing alongside the parent and Affordability Grant split (12:03), then ran an Alberta region Supplemental Parent Fees report with preset government reporting periods and a claims report showing the meal service breakdown (13:43 and 15:19).
Next steps
- Register for the next Director Lunch & Learn for child care operators
- Child care billing with subsidy split-billing and recurring supplementary fees
- Alberta child care software for CWELCC split-billing and Affordability Grant reductions
- Book a demo of ChildFriendly Pro's Alberta reporting tools
