Open a licensed daycare centre in Alberta: the facility-based licence application, the information session, staff certification levels, space and ratio rules, and the affordability-grant route.
Applies in: Alberta
Get a facility-based licence from Alberta's Ministry of Education and Childcare before you take a single child. A daycare centre is a licensed facility-based program under Alberta's Early Learning and Child Care Act: it runs from a dedicated premises, not from your living room, and it needs a licence once you care for more than 6 children at a time, not counting your own. The route is: secure a location, take the mandatory information session, build the application package around a program plan, submit it with the $200 fee, pass the licensing officer's inspection, and then sign the Affordability Grant agreement so the families you serve pay the flat parent fee.
This guide covers the centre only. If you plan to care for children in your own home, that is a family day home, and the route is different — see our home daycare guide. This guide gives process only: no business advice, no advice on whether a centre will make money, and no eligibility advice for families.
You need a location before you can apply. The premises must satisfy the statutory director that they comply with applicable zoning, health, and safety legislation, including the Public Health Act, the Safety Codes Act, and any applicable municipal bylaws — and you must be able to show evidence of that compliance before a licence is issued. Get the municipal, health, and fire approvals in hand early: the licensing handbook's application process puts them in Step 5, and they are the approvals most likely to hold the file up.
The space itself has to meet the regulation's minimums. For day care, you must provide at least 3 square metres of primary play space indoors for each child in your licensed capacity; for preschool and out-of-school care the minimum is 2.5 square metres per child. Outdoor play space for day care must be on, adjacent to, or within easy and safe walking distance of the premises, and must accommodate at least half of the licensed capacity at 2 square metres per infant and 4.5 square metres per child aged 19 months or over. The outdoor space must be securely enclosed on all sides.
Work out your licensed capacity from the space before you sign a lease: capacity, ratios, and staffing all follow from the number of children the space can hold.
If you are applying for a facility-based licence for the first time, you must complete an information session offered by the Ministry of Education and Childcare. If you are applying as a corporation, one or more corporate directors, as determined by the ministry, must complete the session. Call Childcare Connect at 1-844-644-5165 to sign up.
Before you attend, read the Early Learning and Child Care Act and the Early Learning and Child Care Regulation, and read the whole application package, so you arrive prepared. The session covers an overview of the Act and Regulation, the licensing requirements and responsibilities, and the key steps in the application and monitoring process. You will need the certificate showing you completed the session as part of your application package.
You can apply in one of two ways once you have a location: submit a complete application with all required documents in one step, or submit a partial application and get guidance from licensing staff throughout the process. The partial route must include a complete licence application form, a completed program plan template, documentation confirming the location, and the $200 non-refundable application fee; then you contact Childcare Connect to speak with licensing staff, who can help you sign up for the information session, review your program plan, identify the zoning, health, and safety approvals you need, arrange an initial inspection of your space, and find local resources.
The full application package is:
To submit a complete or partial application, email the required documents to Childcare Connect — the address is on the Licensed facility-based programs page — with the subject line "New application: [your program name]". Mail the $200 non-refundable application fee, payable by cheque to the Government of Alberta, to Childcare Connect, J.G. O'Donoghue Building, 2nd Floor, 7000 113 Street NW, Edmonton, Alberta T6H 5T6. There is no courier or in-person drop-off.
It may take up to 30 business days to process your application after licensing staff have confirmed your package is complete. From July to September 2026, the average processing time for complete applications was 17 business days. A licence will not be issued until a complete application is received, assessed, and approved by licensing staff. If your application is inactive for more than 6 months, it will be returned to you and you will need to submit a new application, including another $200 application fee.
If your application is refused, you have the right to appeal within 30 days of receiving the refusal letter.
Staffing is where a centre differs most from a home daycare, and it is the part of the application the program plan has to prove. The rules come from Schedule 1 of the Early Learning and Child Care Regulation.
Certification levels. Alberta has three levels of early childhood educator (ECE) certification. Level 1 needs one 45-hour (3-credit) post-secondary early learning and childcare course related to child development, the Alberta Early Childhood Education Orientation Course, the high-school CCS 3110–3150 courses, or equivalent coursework. Level 2 needs a 1-year early learning and childcare certificate program from an approved Alberta institution or an approved equivalency. Level 3 needs a 2-year early learning and childcare diploma program or an approved equivalency. Staff apply online through the ECE Certification Application, and processing takes about 4 to 6 weeks.
Who must be certified, and when. Every primary staff member in day care or out-of-school care must hold ECE certification. A new hire must obtain at least Level 1 certification within 6 months of starting, and must not have unsupervised access to children until certified. Your program supervisor must be certified as a Level 3 ECE, must be employed by the program at all times, and must be on duty at all times when children receiving day care are on the premises.
Ratios and group sizes for day care. The minimum primary staff member to children ratio, and the maximum group size, at all times:
| Age of children | Ratio | Maximum group |
|---|---|---|
| Under 12 months | 1:3 | 6 |
| 12 months to under 19 months | 1:4 | 8 |
| 19 months to under 3 years | 1:6 | 12 |
| 3 years to under 4 years | 1:8 | 16 |
| 4 years and older | 1:10 | 20 |
During rest periods the ratios are 1:6, 1:8, 1:12, 1:16, and 1:20 for the same age bands. Where a group mixes ages, the ratio follows the age of the majority of the children. Out-of-school care is 1:15 with a maximum group of 30. Preschool is 1:6 for 19 months to under 3 years and 1:12 for 3 years and older.
Qualification mix. Between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., at least one in every 3 primary staff members providing day care must be certified at minimum as a Level 2 ECE, and the rest at minimum as Level 1. At all other times, every primary staff member must be certified at minimum as Level 1. For out-of-school care, at least one in every 4 primary staff members must be Level 2 or higher.
Checks and first aid. Every staff member and volunteer with unsupervised access to children must be an adult and must provide a criminal record check including a vulnerable sector search, dated no earlier than 6 months before they start, and renewed every 3 years. A new staff member must provide it within 8 weeks of starting and must not have unsupervised access to children until it is provided. At least one in every 2 primary staff members must hold first aid certification, and at least one staff member with first aid certification must be on duty at all times. When 7 or more children are receiving care in a group, at least 2 adult staff members, at least one of whom is a primary staff member, must be on duty.
Your initial licence is valid for at least one year and up to 3 years. To continue operating, apply to renew before it expires: a renewal package is sent to you 90 days before expiry, and the $100 non-refundable renewal fee must be submitted at least 30 days before expiry. A renewal inspection is scheduled as part of the process. A renewal application needs a description of any changes since the last application and, if the last criminal record check was done more than 3 years ago, a new one.
You can ask to vary a licence — to change the location, maximum capacity, expiry date, or another condition — and licensing staff review the request within 10 business days. An inspection may be required. If you hold a licence, you must tell the statutory director in writing, promptly, about any change in the information you provided in your application. You can also request an exemption from specific regulatory requirements, such as transportation, cribs, outdoor play spaces, mixed-age groups, or staff qualifications, by submitting the exemption request form to your licensing officer with the reasons, the length of time needed, and how children's needs will be met.
A licence and a funding agreement are two different things. The Affordability Grant is an operating grant paid to eligible licensed childcare programs under the 2026–27 agreement, and programs must have a signed Affordability Grant agreement in place to receive affordability funding. The grant sets a flat monthly parent fee for children up to kindergarten age: $326.25 a month for a child registered for 100 or more hours, and $230 a month for a child registered for 50 to 99 hours. Programs charge no more than that flat fee for basic care; the grant covers the rest. The flat fee has applied since April 1, 2025, and the federal–provincial agreement extension keeps it in place for 2026–27. Preschool programs do not use the flat-fee model; parents of preschool children save up to $100 per child per month on preschool fees instead.
The Child Care Subsidy Program is separate, and it still applies for children in full-time kindergarten to Grade 6 in licensed out-of-school care. If you will receive subsidy benefits on behalf of parents, the subsidy grant application form in your application package is the funding agreement that makes that possible. Note the change families need to hear: the child care subsidy for daytime care up to kindergarten age ended on March 31, 2025, and the Affordability Grant replaced it for those ages.
One funding limit to plan around: affordability funding covers at most 20 additional funded spaces, with only one such request per fiscal year — the limit applies to for-profit programs from April 1, 2026, and to non-profit programs from June 19, 2026. If a program increases beyond 20 spaces, its Affordability Grant agreement is terminated and affordability funding is lost for all spaces, and that decision is final and cannot be appealed.
Yes, once you care for more than 6 children at a time, not counting your own. Alberta's Early Learning and Child Care Act sets that line, and a daycare centre is a licensed facility-based program under it. Six or fewer children is home care, not a centre — our [home daycare guide](/guides/how-to-start-a-home-daycare-in-alberta/) covers that route.
A centre runs from a dedicated premises under its own facility-based licence, with a written program plan, a Level 3 certified supervisor, and the ratio and space rules in the regulation. A home daycare is a family day home: care in the provider's own home for up to 6 children, under a licensed family day home agency that holds the licence. Different building, different licence, different staffing — this guide is the centre only.
Two hundred dollars, non-refundable, by cheque made out to the Government of Alberta. Renewal is $100, also non-refundable, and it has to be in at least 30 days before the licence expires. One trap to avoid: if your application sits inactive for more than 6 months, the province returns it and you start over with another $200 fee.
Every primary staff member needs early childhood educator (ECE) certification, and nobody works unsupervised with children until they have it — new hires get 6 months to reach at least Level 1. Level 1 takes a 45-hour post-secondary course in early learning and childcare, or the free provincial Orientation Course. Level 2 is a 1-year certificate program; Level 3 is a 2-year diploma. And the program supervisor — the person in charge while children are on site — has to hold Level 3.
They tighten for younger children. One adult per 3 babies under 12 months, in a group of at most 6; 1 to 4 up to 19 months, group of 8; 1 to 6 up to age 3, group of 12; 1 to 8 up to age 4, group of 16; and 1 to 10 from age 4, group of 20. Rest periods run leaner — 1 to 6, 1 to 8, 1 to 12, 1 to 16, and 1 to 20 across the same bands. Out-of-school care is 1 to 15 with groups of 30, and preschool is 1 to 6 under age 3 and 1 to 12 from age 3.
At a program that has signed the Affordability Grant agreement, $326.25 a month for full-time care — 100 hours or more — or $230 a month for part-time care of 50 to 99 hours, for children up to kindergarten age. The grant goes to the program, not the parent, and makes up the difference. School-age children are different: for full-time kindergarten to Grade 6 in licensed out-of-school care, the Child Care Subsidy Program applies instead, and families apply for that on their own.