A daycare operator in Flatrock says she’s been left with no choice but to shut her doors effective tomorrow because funding has dried up.
Cindy Haley, owner of ABC Academy, says daycare operators receive their operating grant every three months, with the last payment supposed to hit the bank over a week ago, but that hasn’t been the case.
Haley says it’s hard enough to spread the grant far enough to cover three months as it is; not having it on time means she simply doesn’t have the money to keep the lights on any longer.
Haley told parents she would be shutting her doors tomorrow because she simply cannot afford it.
“I don’t know what to give them tomorrow to eat, I have to close.”
She says other daycare operators are in the same boat and are also at risk of having to shut down in the coming days.
Haley says the situation has taken a mental toll on daycare providers who are frantically checking their bank accounts multiple times a day.
“Usually we get an email saying when we’ll get a payment in our account, we haven’t gotten an email yet.”
(File photo.)
Meanwhile, Independent MHA Paul Lane says he’s been contacted by student assistants and others who have not received any pay or Records of Employment since their last pay check on June 27.
That’s a problem says Lane because student assistants and substitute teachers need a Record of Employment to apply for EI and get through the summer.
“They’ve been told by HR” says Lane, “that hopefully, sometime between July 15 and 19 they would receive it. Of course if they do indeed receive it at that point in time, they still have to apply for EI. So, that would mean basically a full month with zero income coming in through the door.”
