Nova Scotia Child Care Subsidy Program

The Child Care Subsidy Program helps eligible families by paying for a portion of their child care fees charged by licensed child care facilities, approved family home child care agencies, and approved Nova Scotia Before and After Programs.

Families can apply for the Nova Scotia Child Care Subsidy Program if they have children 12 years old and younger enrolled in a licensed child care facility, approved family home child care agencies, or approved Nova Scotia Before and After Programs.

• Find a licensed child care facility. 
• Learn about the Nova Scotia Before and After Program.

Applications are assessed by a Child Care Subsidy Caseworker within 8 weeks of your submission.  A caseworker may contact you with additional questions, and will notify you when a decision has been made regarding your application. 

If you are approved to receive child care subsidy, your subsidy will be backdated to the day we received your complete application.

Your eligibility for the Nova Scotia Child Care Subsidy Program is reviewed at least once every year.

Eligibility is based on your family's financial situation. We will do an assessment of your current financial circumstances and families with assessed incomes under $70,000 are eligible for the subsidy program.

Once the subsidy is in place the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development will provide the funding directly to the chosen licensed child care facility, approved family home child care agency, or approved Nova Scotia Before and After Program.

If you transfer your child/ren to another (approved) location, contact your caseworker and your subsidy can be transferred.

You are required to notify your caseworker if you or your partner/spouse have changes to the following:

• employment
• income
• address
• marital status
• contact details
• custody arrangements
• child care arrangements
• residency status

If you do not notify us and we pay you too much, 3 things may happen:

• you may have to pay us back
• we may cancel your subsidy
• we may take you to court

Early Learning and Child Care Regulations 55 (5) (6)

The application form is in English. 
If English is not your first language it is helpful to ask an English-speaking person to help you when completing the form.

Filling out the application generally takes less than 60 minutes.
Make sure you plan for enough time to complete the application process. The form completion time will depend on your family and financial situation. 

There is a 30 minute timeout for each screen of the application.
If you don't move from one screen to another within that 30 minute timeframe your application will be considered to be abandoned and any information you have provided up to that point will be discarded.

• To prevent this make sure you progress through the screens within the allotted time.
• We also recommend preparing all documents and information before starting so that you can proceed smoothly through the application.

Prepare digital files of your supporting documents so they are ready to upload. 

You can upload files of the following types:

• PDF documents
• images or photos in gif, jpg, jpeg, png, or heic (iPhone photo) formats
   

Review the categories below to identify the types of information and documents that you (and your partner/spouse) may be required to submit.

When you have all of your information ready, proceed to the application form.

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