Nunavut's Daycare Subsidy helps low-income families pay for child care while they work or study, and you apply for it through your community Income Assistance Worker.
Applies in: Nunavut
Nunavut's child care subsidy is called the Daycare Subsidy, and you apply for it through your community Income Assistance Worker. It is run by the Department of Family Services through Income Assistance. It gives financial support to low-income families who live in Nunavut so child care is more affordable while they work or study outside the home. Your community Income Assistance Worker provides the application form, and forms are also available at local licensed child care facilities.
Two things make this program different from the child care subsidies in most other provinces. First, it covers licensed and unlicensed child care, as long as the care passes the standard assessment. Second, it sits alongside a separate fee reduction that needs no application at all: licensed full-time child care for children up to 6 already carries an average out-of-pocket parental fee of $10 a day through the Parental Fee Support Program. The Daycare Subsidy is the income-tested help on top of that system, for families who need more.
To receive the Daycare Subsidy, you must:
The subsidy is for low-income families. The amount is not a fixed rate in the pages opened for this guide — it is worked out from the proof of family income and living expenses you hand in with the application. This guide gives no advice on whether you qualify. That is the Income Assistance Worker's decision when the application is assessed.
The Daycare Subsidy above is for parents 18 and older. Younger parents have their own program: the Young Parents Stay Learning Program helps young parents with the cost of child care while the parent attends school. In 2024/25, parents attending high school received funding under the program to cover the costs of licensed child care or approved unlicensed child care. If you are under 18 and in school, ask your Income Assistance Worker whether the Young Parents Stay Learning Program fits your situation.
Your community Income Assistance Worker can provide you with a Daycare Subsidy application form. Forms are also available at local licensed child care facilities. There is no online application form on the pages opened for this guide, so start with a visit or a phone call to your worker or your child care facility.
For more information, call your Income Assistance Regional Office:
The following information is required to work out whether you qualify:
Get the provider's signature on the expense proof and the instructor's signature on the enrolment proof before you hand the form in. A form missing a signature can be sent back, which costs time.
Give the completed form and the proofs to your community Income Assistance Worker. The worker assesses the application and works out the subsidy. If your situation changes — a new job, a new course, a change in hours, or a change of provider — tell your worker, because the subsidy is tied to the work or study you are doing and the care you are paying for.
Separately from the Daycare Subsidy, the Government of Nunavut's Parental Fee Support Program keeps the average out-of-pocket parental fee at $10 a day for full-time licensed child care for children up to 6 years old, in all Nunavut communities. That reduction is built into what licensed programs charge, so there is nothing to apply for. If your child is in licensed full-time care and is up to 6, the $10-a-day average already applies to your fees, and the Daycare Subsidy is the extra, income-tested help for families who need more than that.
The pages opened for this guide do not publish the Daycare Subsidy rates, an income threshold, or a payment schedule, so this guide states none of them — the amount is worked out from your application. They do not spell out the steps of the standard assessment for unlicensed care, so this guide does not describe them; ask your Income Assistance Worker what the assessment covers for your provider. They also do not state how the Daycare Subsidy and the $10-a-day Parental Fee Support Program combine for one family, so this guide does not claim they stack or offset; ask your worker how they work together in your case. Processing times are not published on the opened pages either. This guide gives no advice on whether you qualify — that is the Income Assistance Worker's decision.
Daycare Subsidy. Family Services runs it through Income Assistance, not Education. Nunavut counts it among its means-tested financial benefits, next to Income Assistance and the Senior Citizens Supplementary Benefit. It is not the same thing as the Parental Fee Support Program — that is the separate reduction that keeps licensed child care at an average of 10 dollars a day.
You must live in Nunavut, be 18 or older, and have a child under 12 — and you must be working or enrolled in training or education. The program is for low-income families, and the amount comes from the income and living-expense proof you hand in; there is no fixed rate in the sources this guide used.
Yes. Licensed and unlicensed care both qualify, as long as the care passes the standard assessment. What that assessment covers for your provider is not spelled out in the pages this guide used, so ask your Income Assistance Worker.
Your community Income Assistance Worker has the form, and local licensed child care facilities have it too. There is no online application in the pages this guide used, so start with a visit or a phone call. Hand the completed form back to your worker with the proofs listed in this guide.
For each child needing a subsidy, the form asks for name, age, and hours of care per week. Then: proof of day care expenses signed by the provider; proof of employment, or proof of school or training enrolment signed by the program instructor; proof of family income such as a pay stub or employer statement; and proof of living expenses such as rent or mortgage and utility costs.
No — the 10 dollar a day figure is separate. It is the average out-of-pocket fee for full-time licensed care for children up to 6, built into what licensed programs charge through the Parental Fee Support Program. The Daycare Subsidy is different: an income-tested payment for low-income families. How the two combine for one family is not stated in the pages this guide used. Ask your Income Assistance Worker.