Operating Model Toolkit

Last updated on August 15, 2025

This resource provides best practices to help child care operators create a budget and plan their programs. Each child care centre is unique, however, and it is the responsibility of those developing the child care centre to meet all regulatory requirements.

Child care operations

Managing a child care centre requires balancing the needs of children, staff and families while ensuring the operation runs smoothly and remains compliant with regulations. By handling finances well, staying organized and having a well-trained team, child care operators can create a positive space for both children and staff, helping the facility succeed in the long run.

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Successful service delivery

Financial management

Focuses on keeping a clear budget, including all income and expenses; helps ensure operating costs are covered, like salaries, utilities, educational resources and centre maintenance. A well-planned budget also helps to set affordable fees for families and competitive staff wages. Hiring a book keeper or accountant can help manage daily accounts.

Human resource management

Focuses on recruiting, developing and keeping staff. Hiring qualified early childhood educators and offering continuous professional development helps to ensure quality care. It is important to have clear policies, foster an inclusive culture and provide performance reviews and incentives.

Administrative management

Focuses on the day-to-day tasks needed to operate a child care centre. This includes keeping children's health and safety records, scheduling activities, managing employee files and certifications and communicating with families, staff and partners.

Training and professional development

Westcoast Child Care Resource and Referral Centre
- Administration and Management for Child Care
- Beyond the Basics - Daycare Management
Douglas College
- Administrative Skills for Early Childhood Educator Centres

Start-up expenses

Start-up expenses are the initial costs a new business must pay before it can start operating. Below are some start-up expenses to consider when creating your budget. The owner/operator is responsible for covering these costs. Projects funded by the New Spaces Fund cover a wide range of capital project expenses directly related to the development, implementation, and operations of the child care facility. However, they do not include all start-up expenses or staff wages. ChildCareBC funding programs are only available once the centre is licensed and running.

Lease, rent or mortgage payments
Criminal record checks
Employee wages
Training and professional development
Taxes and insurance
Bank fees
Utilities: water, power, sewer and heat
Phone and Wi-Fi
Office supplies: paper, pens, binders, printer ink, etc.
Marketing and recruitment: business cards, website, etc.
Professional services: legal, bookkeeping, janitorial, etc.
Non-capital items: food, books, play materials, art supplies, games, sand play, etc.
Software
Housewares and cleaning supplies: small appliances, pots and pans, flatware, utensils, broom, garbage bin, etc.
Indoor play: play mats, cushions, tunnels, climbers, etc.
Outdoor play equipment and furniture

Furniture, fixtures and equipment

Having the right furniture and equipment for each age group is essential for quality child care and required for licensing. This includes items like cubbies, cabinets, cribs, strollers, child-sized and adult furniture, and appliances. The following guide offers a checklist of furnishings and equipment for each type of licensed program.

Furniture and Equipment Guidelines for Licensed Child Care Facilities

Staffing

Early childhood educators are essential for operating a group child care centre. You may also consider hiring managers, program supervisors, administrators and other professional services.

Manager: Oversees the centre and staff, maintains staff schedules, communicates with families, ensures regulatory compliance and manages financial records and budgets. Ideally, this role is filled by someone with early childhood educator qualifications to provide professional development and assist with staff ratios and cover breaks
Program supervisor: Supervises staff and children in their section, works as part of the necessary staff ratio and must be qualified under the Child Care Licensing Regulation. Plans and organizes an inspiring program that is responsive to the children's evolving needs and ensures the program operates in compliance with the licensing regulations
Administrative assistant: Handles bookkeeping, billing, fee collection and administrative work. Ideally qualified under the Child Care Licensing Regulation to assist with staff ratios and cover breaks
On-call and casual staff: Qualified caregivers to cover absences and maintain consistency and compliance with staff ratios
Indigenous elders: Share wisdom and life lessons with children through stories, songs, culture, language and traditions, sharing knowledge and teachings that have been handed down through generations
Janitorial staff: Maintains cleanliness and sanitization of the child care centre
Accounting: Bookkeepers manage daily financial records, while accountants provide higher-level financial strategy and guidance

Child care management forms

Creates policy guides and procedure handbooks for parents and staff. The following documents are required for daily operations and record keeping. The local health authority will provide form samples in the application package to help you start your child care operation, such as:

Registration form for child care
Medical administration consent
Child immunization status declaration
Employee immunization
Staff planning schedule
Staff qualifications and documentation
Emergency consent card

Other forms you will need include:

Staff and activity schedule
Operation budget sheet
Record keeping for enrolled children and staff
Staffing records
Consent form, for photos, field trips, etc.
Attendance records
Incident records
Receipts for fee payments
Log for minor injury/illness
Communications with families, such as centre handbook and contact lists
Fee schedule
Equipment and maintenance record
Care plan for individual children with support needs
Software application/s for child care centre management

Consider creating:

Business cards
Waitlist document

Operational hours

Each child care centre should set hours that meet the needs of families in the community, and take into consideration commute times.

Standard and non-standard hours

Standard hours: Regular operating hours. For example, Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Non-standard hours: Child care provided outside standard hours. As per the Child Care Licensing Regulation, care must not exceed 13 hours per day per child
- Extended weekday hours: Allows drop-off or pick-up slightly earlier or later than standard hours on weekdays
- Weekend and holiday care: Provides services when standard hour centres are closed
- Overnight care: Care during overnight hours when children are expected to sleep. Explicit requirements in the Child Care Licensing Regulation apply

Scheduling

Early childhood educators and assistants can work full-time or part-time, with varying hours. Preschool and school-based programs usually run during the school year. Most child-care centres, including in-home licensed care, are open year-round and may have longer hours or staggered shifts to accommodate working parents.

Minimum child-to-staff ratio requirements are specified in the Child Care Licensing Regulation. Providers have discretion in staffing composition after meeting these minimums.

To ensure proper staff coverage, ask parents in the enrolment package about their daily drop-off and pick-up times.

Program and operational design

Effective program and operational design ensures a child care centre meets diverse needs, fosters inclusion, maintains safety standards and provides accessible, quality care for all families.

Inclusive, equitable and accessible

Quality, inclusive and culturally safe child care settings benefit all children. These settings are welcoming and celebrate the diverse identities of children, families and staff.

Inclusive child care resources and supports

Quality

Create programs that meet the needs of the children and families in your care. This involves getting to know the educators, children and families in the program. Use the B.C. Early Learning Framework to reflect on the space and programming you want to offer. Have a mix of quiet and active areas to support different types of play and use of the space. Think about the materials and environment you want to create for children, both indoors and outdoors.

B.C. Early Learning Framework

Family involvement

Consider how you want to engage families in the program. This could include open-door policies, regular verbal and written communication and gathering opportunities such as family events or volunteering.

Compliance and safety

Ensure compliance with local regulations regarding staff qualifications, training and health and safety standards and include these in family and staff handbooks. Regularly train staff and provide professional learning opportunities.

Operating funding, fees for families and benchmarks

As you develop an operating budget and determine fees for families, take into consideration the operating funding available through ChildCareBC. Detailed guidelines are available for each program.

Operational funding

Child Care Operating Funding - Base Funding
Helps eligible licensed family and group child care providers with day-to-day costs of running a child care centre.

Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative
Offers funding to help providers with the cost of running a child care centre and to reduce fees for families in B.C. Child care providers can opt in to the fee reduction program after applying for Child Care Operating Funding. Participation is optional unless you are under a New Spaces Fund Agreement or are receiving a Start-Up Grant. It is also required to access the Maintenance Fund. New applicants and modified facilities are required to set their fees at or below their regional affordability benchmarks set out in the guidelines. There are two components of the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative:

Fee reductions: Families receive up to $900 per month per child to reduce fees for full-time care; part-time care receives a pro-rated amount
Provider payments: In recognition of the critical role that providers play, monthly funding through the fee reduction program is provided to help cover operational costs. This funding is in addition to base funding, fee reductions for families and the Early Childhood Educator Wage Enhancement

$10 a Day ChildCareBC
In addition to fee reductions for families, the $10 a Day ChildCareBC program is one of the ways government is making child care more affordable.

Early Childhood Educator Wage Enhancement
Certified early childhood educators in eligible licensed centres can receive up to a $6 per hour wage enhancement.

Aboriginal Head Start
Offers early learning and child care for Indigenous children aged 0 to 6 years. Using a culturally relevant curriculum, Aboriginal Head Start provides full-day child care with wraparound family support and inclusion serves at no cost to Indigenous families. The Province partners with the First Nations Health Authority and Aboriginal Head Start Association of British Columbia to administer participating programs.

Budget tools

Child Care Budget Tool
Assists child care providers in estimating potential costs and revenue streams associated with opening child care centres. This tool helps providers make informed decisions by projecting budgets based on enrolment capacities and other key factors. This tool is a valuable resource for understanding the financial requirements and potential earnings for a child care centre, helping you plan effectively for long-term success.

Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative estimator
Use this tool to find child care centres in your area and estimate monthly child care fees based on ministry-approved rates for that centre.

Affordable Child Care Benefit estimator
Use this tool to estimate eligibility. The estimation provided in this service is not a guarantee of payments. The estimation does not take into account all of your circumstances and should be used as a guide only.

Emergency funding

ChildCareBC Maintenance Fund
Helps licensed child care centres with emergency repairs or replacements that are not part of routine maintenance. The fund can also help with relocation costs if the move is necessary to meet the requirements of the Community Care and Assisted Living Act.

Family supports and benefits

Affordable Child Care Benefit
Families may still need to pay some child care fees, even after fee reductions through the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative. Families can apply for the Affordable Child Care Benefit to help lower these remaining costs. Once approved, service providers can submit a monthly claim form to receive payments.

Child Care Resource and Referral Centres
Found in every school district in B.C., these centres offer virtual and in-person support to child care providers with:

Information and resources
One-on-one and group mentorship at the centre or your child care location
ChildCareBC funding information and application assistance
Professional development and training as advertised on the Early Years Professional Development Portal
Free job board child care providers can use to post job opportunities provincewide
Access to lending libraries that may include toys, books, educational resources, equipment and textbooks

Child Care Resource and Referral Francophone

La Fédération des parents francophones de Colombie-Britannique offers province-wide child care resource and referral services in French to francophone families, child care providers, and the francophone early childhood workforce. It also supports local Child Care Resource and Referral (CCRR) centres in assisting French-speaking service users within their communities.

Aboriginal Child Care Resource and Referral
Run by the B.C. Aboriginal Child Care Society, the Aboriginal Child Care Resource and Referral program supports early learning and child care programs for early childhood educators and families in B.C. They offer information, outreach, resource lending, networking and learning opportunities. Staff work with both Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators, families and communities throughout the province.

Métis Child Care Benefit Program
The Métis Child Care Benefit Program is a service offered by the Métis Child Care Navigation and Support Program, for families with Métis children from birth to 12 years. Eligible families may receive this funding in addition to the Affordable Child Care Benefit.

Métis Nation British Columbia
Métis Nation British Columbia offers services specifically for Métis families and early childhood educators. They help with child care coordination, guidance and teaching methods. Their programs provide training, consultation, communication, outreach, information and referrals for families, providers, early childhood educators and other community members.

Columbia Basin Trust
Supports the people in the Columbia Basin. For child care, the trust provides funding for wage enhancements, training wage supports and minor repair and renovation funding.

Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Framework
A framework that reflects the unique cultures, aspiration and needs of First Nations, Inuit and Métis children across Canada. In B.C., the funding is managed by the British Columbia Aboriginal Child Care Society for First Nations and by Métis Nation British Columbia for Métis-specific supports. Funding includes wage enhancements, capital funding and support for cultural programming.

Marketing and outreach