Start a home daycare in BC: Licensed Family Child Care ratios (7 children max), the health-authority licensing steps, RLNR, and CCOF funding rates.
Applies in: British Columbia
BC licenses home-based child care through the regional health authorities, not through agencies or a provincial ministry office. The law behind it is the Community Care and Assisted Living Act, and the numbers that matter — how many children, which ages — live in the Child Care Licensing Regulation. Home-based care is a large part of Canadian child care: Statistics Canada counted an estimated 14,435 licensed and 14,022 unlicensed child care homes caring for children aged 0 to 5 in April 2022. Before you buy a single toy, figure out which of BC's four home-based categories you fit — the child limit, paperwork, and funding differ completely in each.
Licensed Family Child Care. You are the licensee, a "responsible adult" aged 19 or older, personally providing care in your own home to no more than 7 children under 12. No ECE certificate required: the bar is 20 hours of child care-related training, relevant experience, a valid first aid certificate, and a clear criminal record check. This is the main licensed route for home providers.
Licensed In-Home Multi-Age Child Care. Same shape, one big difference: the licensee must hold an Early Childhood Educator certificate (about 900 hours of training). The reward is 8 children instead of 7, and CCOF base funding rates 20% higher. If you already have the ECE credential, price this option seriously.
Registered Licence-Not-Required (RLNR). Register with your local Child Care Resource and Referral (CCRR) centre and care for a maximum of 2 children or one sibling group. Your own children do not count. No licence, no inspections — but you land on the CCRR referral list, and your families can receive the Affordable Child Care Benefit at the higher registered rates.
Licence-Not-Required (LNR). The same 2-child-or-sibling-group limit with no registration, no monitoring, and no standards to meet. It is legal, but families in unregistered care get lower benefit maximums and you get no referral listing.
One advertising rule catches people out: an unlicensed program must not use the prescribed program names — Family Child Care, Preschool, Group Child Care, Multi-Age Child Care, In-Home Multi-Age Child Care, or Occasional Child Care — in its title or advertising, or imply its primary purpose is regulated care (Child Care Licensing Regulation, section 4).
Searchers asking for "B.C. home daycare requirements" usually want the checklist, not the story — so here it is, by path. Everything below is drawn from the provincial types-of-child-care page and the Child Care Licensing Regulation; the steps that follow this section walk through how to actually clear each item.
Licensed Family Child Care (up to 7 children). You must be 19 or older and able to provide care and mature guidance. Requirements: 20 hours of child care-related training, relevant experience, a valid first aid certificate, a clear criminal record check under the Criminal Records Review Act, an application to your regional health authority's licensing program, and a home inspection. Your own children under 12 count toward the 7. Ratio: 1 provider to 7 children, with the age-mix caps in the FAQ above.
Licensed In-Home Multi-Age Child Care (up to 8 children). Everything above, plus one substitution that changes the whole profile: instead of the responsible-adult standard, the licensee must hold an Early Childhood Educator certificate (about 900 hours of training). Ratio: 1 Early Childhood Educator to 8 children.
Registered Licence-Not-Required (up to 2 children or one sibling group). No licence and no health-authority inspection, but registration through your local Child Care Resource and Referral centre is a real screen, not a formality. The registration criteria include criminal record checks for everyone over the age of 12 living in the home, character references, a home safety assessment, a physician's report on your physical and emotional capacity to care for children, first aid training, and participation in child care training courses or workshops. Your own children do not count toward the limit. Ratio: 1 adult to 2 children (or the sibling group).
Licence-Not-Required (up to 2 children or one sibling group). No registration, no checks, no training requirement, no monitoring. It is legal care, and it is the only path with genuinely no requirements — which is why the registered version exists for providers who want the referral list and the better benefit rates for their families.
Choose by the number of children you want and the paperwork you will tolerate. Three or more unrelated children means a licence — full stop. One or two means RLNR gives you the referral list and the better benefit rates for almost no extra effort over unregistered LNR, so register.
The licensed route pays for its paperwork: 7 children instead of 2, inspection credibility with parents, CCOF base funding, and eligibility for the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative.
Start with your health authority, not with forms. BC's five health authorities (Fraser, Interior, Island, Northern, Vancouver Coastal) each run a community care facility licensing program that processes applications and issues the licence. Contact the licensing office for your area first: they hand you the application package and point you to municipal zoning, business licensing, and fire safety.
The formal application goes in writing to the medical health officer: the application form plus the records listed in Schedule B of the regulation. Assemble these before you apply:
A licensing officer investigates, inspects the home, and issues the licence with any terms or conditions. When you advertise, you must identify your care program (section 11) — "Licensed Family Child Care," not just "daycare."
Your local CCRR also helps here: connecting you with the health authority and supporting your ChildCareBC funding applications afterwards.
Walk through your home the way the licensing officer will, even on the unlicensed paths where no inspection happens:
Take first aid and infant/child CPR even if your path does not require it. Parents ask about it, and it is the cheapest credibility you can buy. If you plan overnight care, Schedule F of the regulation adds extra conditions (for example, no more than 4 children per sleeping room) — raise it with your licensing officer early.
The licence covers the care; the business side is separate:
This is where the licensed path earns its keep. Three programs, one system:
CCOF base funding. Apply or renew through My ChildCareBC Services. It pays a daily rate per enrolled child (see the base funding rates and the FAQ above — $3.70 per day for a full-day child under 36 months, scaling down by age). Conditions: valid licence, open and providing care, good standing with the ministry, no waitlist fees, agreement to serve families receiving the Affordable Child Care Benefit, an inclusive environment, and the annual provider profile survey. Funding agreements run on the April 1–March 31 funding year and must be renewed each year.
Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative (CCFRI). Optional opt-in that lowers fees for your families directly. The trade: your fee increases are capped — 3% of the regional median fee for 2026/27 — and since April 1, 2026, providers in the program may only charge optional fees for extended hours after offering at least 9.5 hours of regular daily service.
$10 a Day ChildCareBC. A separate application stream. If accepted, you are funded through it instead of CCOF — renew your CCOF agreement while you wait so there is no funding gap. Note that the province said in January 2026 it is not expanding the $10-a-day program at this time, so do not plan around a new $10-a-day place — CCOF and the fee reduction initiative are the working routes.
The Affordable Child Care Benefit flows to families, not to you, but it fills your spaces: explain in your parent contract that you accept ACCB families, and keep the attendance records the benefit paperwork requires.
BC has no agency model — licensed providers set their own fees. If you join the fee reduction initiative, your increases are capped, so set your starting fee carefully against typical rates in your region (your CCRR knows the local range). RLNR and LNR providers negotiate privately with their one or two families.
Budget for the launch before you price anything: home safety upgrades, child-sized furniture and bedding, toys and learning materials, the first aid course, criminal record checks, and the business-name registration. Treat CCOF base funding as a subsidy on operating costs, not as revenue.
Step 5 names the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative but not the dollar amounts — and those amounts are the reason most families ask whether a provider is in the program. The province pays the reduction to you, and it comes straight off the family's monthly invoice; families do not apply, and the program is not income-tested.
For full-time family child care, the monthly reduction per child is $600 for a child under 36 months, $500 for ages 3 to kindergarten, $320 for kindergarten, and $145 for Grade 1 to age 12. Part-time care (4 hours or fewer per day) gets half those amounts, pro-rated further for fewer than five days a week. There is a floor: after the reduction, a family's out-of-pocket fee will not fall below $200 a month for full-time care ($140 part-time) — that floor is what aligns CCFRI with the $10-a-day program, where participating sites cap full-time fees at $200 a month. The Affordable Child Care Benefit stacks on top for families who apply (household income up to $111,000).
The fourth piece of ChildCareBC funding, missing from Step 5, is the Early Childhood Educator Wage Enhancement. If you hold a valid ECE certificate — which the In-Home Multi-Age path already requires — you may be eligible for up to $6 per hour on top of your pay, for up to 195 hours a month, plus 19.90% in statutory-benefits funding (effective January 1, 2026). Eligibility requires your centre to be enrolled in the fee reduction initiative or operating as a $10-a-day centre, and it expressly includes owners and operators of a licensed child care centre — so a self-employed In-Home Multi-Age provider can claim it, not just hired staff. You apply through the same My ChildCareBC Services system as CCOF, and participation is optional at any time. For a Licensed Family Child Care provider without an ECE certificate, this one does not apply — it is a reason, alongside the 8-child limit and the 20%-higher CCOF rates, to weigh the ECE credential seriously.
Not always. BC lets you care for up to two children (or one sibling group) who are not related to you without any licence — this is licence-not-required (LNR) care. The moment you take a third unrelated child, you need a licence from your regional health authority. There is also a middle path: register as licence-not-required (RLNR) through your local Child Care Resource and Referral centre, which keeps the two-child limit but gets you on the referral list and makes your families eligible for higher benefit rates.
Seven, and the age mix is regulated. Under the Child Care Licensing Regulation (Schedule E): if any child in care is younger than 12 months, you may have no more than 3 children younger than 48 months, and only one of them may be under 12 months. If no child is under 12 months, you may have up to 4 children younger than 48 months, with no more than 2 of them younger than 24 months. All children are under 12 years old.
Yes, if they are under 12. The regulation counts any child related to the licensee by blood or marriage who is a member of the group; only relatives aged 12 or older are excluded from the group size. So if you have two children of your own under 12 at home during care hours, you can take at most five paying children — and the age-mix rules still apply to the whole group.
The child limit is the same (two children or a sibling group, and your own children do not count), but registration changes the economics. Registered LNR providers register with their local Child Care Resource and Referral (CCRR) centre, appear on the CCRR referral list that families search, and their families can receive the Affordable Child Care Benefit at the higher registered rates (up to $600 per month for a child under 37 months, income-tested). Unregistered LNR families get lower maximums: $438 per month for a child under 19 months, $404 for 19 to 37 months, and $354 from 37 months. Registration is the free credibility upgrade — ask your CCRR how to sign up.
Contact the community care facility licensing program at your regional health authority (Fraser Health, Interior Health, Island Health, Northern Health, or Vancouver Coastal Health). They give you the application package and point you toward municipal zoning, business licensing, and fire safety. You apply in writing to the medical health officer with the application plus the Schedule B records. Expect to provide: a criminal record check under the Criminal Records Review Act, a valid first aid certificate, proof of 20 hours of child care-related training, relevant experience, and to pass a home inspection. You must be 19 or older.
For Licensed Family Child Care, no ECE certificate is required — you qualify as a 'responsible adult' (19+, mature guidance, 20 hours of child care-related training, experience, first aid, clear criminal record check). The ECE certificate matters for the In-Home Multi-Age licence: that path requires you to be a certified Early Childhood Educator (about 900 hours of training), and in return you may care for up to 8 children and receive CCOF base funding rates 20% higher than family child care.
Child Care Operating Funding (CCOF) base funding helps licensed providers with day-to-day operating costs. You apply through My ChildCareBC Services. For a family child care licence (7 or fewer children in your own home), the per-enrolment daily rates are: under 36 months $1.85 (4 hours or less) or $3.70 (over 4 hours); 3 years to kindergarten $1.41/$2.82; kindergarten $1.41/$2.82; Grade 1 to age 12 $0.73/$1.46. To stay eligible you must hold a valid licence, be open and providing care, not charge waitlist fees, agree to serve families receiving the Affordable Child Care Benefit, and complete the annual provider profile survey. In-home multi-age providers get rates 20% higher.
Yes, through the Affordable Child Care Benefit (ACCB) — families apply, and the benefit is paid monthly based on income, the child's age, and your care type. The maximum monthly amounts for Licensed Family Child Care are $1,000 for a child under 19 months, $1,000 for 19 to 37 months, $550 from 37 months to school age, and $415 for school-age children. Separately, you can opt into the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative, which lowers what parents pay directly; providers already in it face fee-increase limits (3% of the regional median fee for 2025/26). There is also the $10 a Day ChildCareBC program, which is a separate application — successful applicants are funded through it instead of CCOF.
No. Child care services are an exempt supply under the GST/HST rules, so you do not add GST or HST to parent fees anywhere in Canada, BC included. The flip side is that you cannot claim input tax credits on your daycare purchases, since those are only available for businesses making taxable sales. The CRA's GST/HST Memorandum 21-1 (Child Care Services) confirms the exemption. If you later add a taxable side business, our [sole proprietorship and GST/HST guide](/guides/how-to-register-a-sole-proprietorship-and-gst-hst-in-canada/) explains the $30,000 registration threshold.
It depends which of the four home-based paths you take. For Licensed Family Child Care, the requirements are: be 19 or older, complete 20 hours of child care-related training, have relevant experience, hold a valid first aid certificate, pass a criminal record check under the Criminal Records Review Act, and pass a home inspection by your regional health authority's licensing program. For Registered Licence-Not-Required care, you register with your local Child Care Resource and Referral centre and meet its registration criteria (checks, references, home safety assessment, first aid, training) but keep the two-child limit. Licence-Not-Required care has no formal requirements at all — and the same two-child limit. Three or more unrelated children always means the licensed path.
Each path has its own ratio, and in home-based care the provider works alone, so the ratio is the group size. Licensed Family Child Care: 1 responsible adult for up to 7 children under 12, with age-mix caps — if any child is under 12 months, no more than 3 children may be under 48 months and only one may be under 12 months. Licensed In-Home Multi-Age: 1 Early Childhood Educator for up to 8 children. Registered Licence-Not-Required and Licence-Not-Required: 1 adult for up to 2 children, or one sibling group, not counting your own children.
On the licensed path, you as the licensee must clear a criminal record check under the Criminal Records Review Act, and your health authority's application package may require checks for other adults in the home as well. On the Registered Licence-Not-Required path, the Child Care Resource and Referral registration criteria require a criminal record check for everyone over the age of 12 living in the home. Unregistered Licence-Not-Required care has no check requirement — which is exactly why many parents ask about checks before they enrol, and why getting one anyway is cheap credibility.
For Licensed Family Child Care, a valid first aid certificate is a named requirement for the responsible adult — your licence application will not proceed without one, alongside the 20 hours of child care-related training and the criminal record check. For Registered Licence-Not-Required care, first aid training is one of the Child Care Resource and Referral registration criteria. Unregistered Licence-Not-Required care requires nothing, but parents treat first aid and infant/child CPR as the baseline signal that a provider is serious, so take the course before your first family starts either way.
Through your local Child Care Resource and Referral (CCRR) centre — find it, contact it, and work through its registration criteria. Based on the provincial CCRR standards, expect: criminal record checks for everyone over 12 living in your home, character references, a home safety assessment visit, a physician's report on your physical and emotional capacity to care for children, first aid training, and participation in child care training courses or workshops. Once registered, you appear on the CCRR referral list that families search, and your families can claim the Affordable Child Care Benefit at the higher registered rates. The child limit does not change: still two children or one sibling group, not counting your own.
The licensing regulation does not set a specific insurance dollar figure, but two things are non-negotiable in practice. First, tell your home insurer you are running child care from the house — a standard home policy typically excludes business use, and an undisclosed daycare can void coverage. Second, ask about a child care or home-business liability rider; many providers carry $1–2 million in commercial general liability because one injury claim can end the business. Your licensing officer and your CCRR can tell you what providers in your area typically carry.
Rules are current as of November 2026. Confirm licensing details with your regional health authority's licensing program and check the regulation links above before relying on any limit or rate.