December 14, 2023
Communiqué
On November 8, 2023, the NJC Executive Committee approved the revised methodology for the monthly daycare ceiling under FSD 32 – Daycare Assistance as recommended by the Foreign Service Directives Committee. This Communiqué highlights the change to the methodology.
Current Methodology
A daycare allowance may be provided under the provisions of FSD 32 - Daycare Assistance to assist eligible employees with the cost of daycare which is more than the average cost of daycare in Ottawa. Accordingly, FSD 32 – Appendix A – Monthly Daycare Employee Shares and Ceilings is published annually on April 1st.
The methodology states that the monthly employee’s share is established based on the average cost of daycare in Ottawa. These amounts are obtained through a survey of eight representative daycares in the Ottawa region. The employee share is established for three age categories: infants (less than 18 months), toddlers (18 months to less than two and one-half years), and preschool-aged children (two and one-half years and over).
The methodology further stipulates that the monthly daycare ceiling which is the maximum amount of the daycare allowance is three times the average cost of daycare in Ottawa for infants, toddlers or preschool aged children, in accordance with subsection 32.1.1.
Context
In 2022, Ontario signed onto the new Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) Agreement, which is a five-year plan to reduce the cost of childcare to an average of $10 per day for eligible families. In establishing the employee shares for 2023-2024 and the maximum daycare ceiling for the allowance, the result was a significant reduction due to the implementation of the new $10-a-day daycare in Ontario which was announced and will take effect through yearly reductions until the desired $10-a-day cost is reached. In 2023, daycare fees were to be reduced by 50% and the rates obtained reflect this reduction. The end result is a decrease in the employee’s share and a resulting decrease of the maximum daycare ceiling for the allowance.
In order to limit the negative impact on employees of applying the methodology in effect on April 1, 2023, the FSD Committee requested and received approval from the NJC Executive Committee to continue to apply the April 1, 2022 rates for April 1, 2023 and to proceed with co-developing a revised methodology outside of the cyclical review process to ensure a timely implementation of a revised methodology and minimize the negative impact on employees.
The FSD Committee completed its review and recommended a revised methodology which was approved by the NJC Executive Committee.
Highlights Of Changes
Revised Methodology
There are no changes to the methodology used to establish the monthly employee share. The revised methodology applies to the monthly daycare ceilings. Rather than multiplying the employee share by three, the monthly daycare ceilings will be adjusted annually on April 1st of every year to reflect the average CPI percentage adjustment for Ottawa-Gatineau for the previous calendar year.
As such, the April 1, 2022 monthly daycare ceiling will be applicable for April 1, 2023. The adjustment to reflect the average CPI percentage adjustment for Ottawa-Gatineau for the previous calendar year would be applied to the April 1, 2023 monthly daycare ceiling to establish the monthly daycare ceiling for April 1, 2024.
The adjustment will be applied annually thereafter. The April 1, 2023 monthly employee shares and monthly daycare ceilings have been published in Appendix A of FSD 32 – Daycare Assistance.
Implementation Date
The revised methodology is effective April 1, 2023.
Implementation
Employees who are eligible to the provisions of FSD 32 – Daycare Assistance will be subject to the revised monthly employee share as published in Appendix A of FSD 32 – Daycare Assistance.
Employees who were eligible to the provisions of FSD 32 – Daycare Assistance since April 1, 2023 will have paid a higher monthly employee share than the revised monthly employee share. As such, departments will adjust the monthly employee share applied to requests for daycare assistance since April 1, 2023 and reimburse employees as applicable.
Enquiries
Enquiries about the FSDs should be referred to the respective Bargaining Agent or Designated Departmental Coordinator.