Short answer: Burnaby has no central daycare waitlist — you apply to each centre separately, and some open their list for only one month a year. Two subsidies do most of the work on cost: the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative takes up to $900 a month off group care for under-3s automatically, at the centre, with no application; the Affordable Child Care Benefit adds up to $1,250 a month for a child under 19 months, but only if you apply. Families with adjusted income up to $111,000 may qualify. There are $10-a-Day sites in Burnaby, but Budget 2026 paused new providers joining the program. Start looking 12 to 18 months before you need the spot.
Burnaby is one of the harder places in Metro Vancouver to find infant care, and the city says so itself: after Budget 2026, Mayor Mike Hurley noted the province provided no new child care funding, leaving families with children aged 0 to 3 the most underserved group. That is the gap this guide is written for — what care actually costs once the subsidies land, which Burnaby centres exist, and the application mechanics that catch people out.
What daycare costs in Burnaby in 2026
Three separate things determine what you pay, and most families only find out about the second one after they have been paying full fee for months.
- The centre’s posted fee. Set by the operator. Infant and toddler group care is the most expensive category everywhere in Metro Vancouver.
- The Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative (CCFRI). Applied by the centre, automatically, if the centre has opted in. You never see this money — the fee is simply lower.
- The Affordable Child Care Benefit (ACCB). Income-tested, and you must apply for it. It stacks on top of CCFRI.
The practical consequence: two families at the same Burnaby centre, with the same child, can pay wildly different amounts. Work out all three before you decide a centre is unaffordable.
CCFRI: the reduction you get automatically
If a Burnaby centre has opted into CCFRI, these amounts come straight off your monthly fee — no application, no income test. These are the 2026–27 full-time rates.
| Care type | Group care | Family child care |
|---|---|---|
| Under 36 months | $900 / month | $600 / month |
| 3 years to kindergarten | $545 / month | $500 / month |
| Kindergarten | $320 / month | $320 / month |
| Grade 1 to age 12 | $115 / month | $145 / month |
| Licensed preschool | $95 / month | — |
Part-time care is pro-rated — children enrolled four hours a day or less receive 50% of the full-day rate, and it is pro-rated again for fewer than five days a week.
The single most useful question you can ask on a tour is: “Are you opted into CCFRI?” Opting in is voluntary. A centre that has not opted in will look competitively priced on paper and cost you $900 a month more for an infant than one that has.
The Affordable Child Care Benefit: the one you have to apply for
ACCB is a monthly payment based on income, family size and care type, and it stacks on top of CCFRI. These are the current maximum monthly amounts.
| Child’s age and setting | Maximum per month |
|---|---|
| Under 19 months, group care | $1,250 |
| 19 to under 37 months, group care | $1,060 |
| 37 months to school age, group care | $550 |
| Under 37 months, family child care | $1,000 |
| 37 months to school age, family child care | $550 |
| Licensed preschool (29 months to school age) | $225 |
| Before and after school care | $210 |
You receive the maximum when your adjusted family income is at or below $45,000 for licensed care ($39,000 for registered licence-not-required care, $24,000 for licence-not-required or in-home care). The benefit then tapers, and families earning up to $111,000 may still qualify — larger families and children needing extra support can qualify above that. It has to be renewed every year.
What the stack actually looks like
Take an under-3 group space at a Burnaby centre with a posted fee of $1,500 a month:
- CCFRI removes $900 at the centre, automatically — you are invoiced $600.
- A family with adjusted income at or under $45,000 with a child under 19 months could receive up to $1,250 in ACCB, which exceeds the remaining fee — in practice the out-of-pocket can fall to zero.
- A family well above the threshold pays the $600.
A very common and expensive mistake is assuming CCFRI and ACCB are the same program. CCFRI is automatic at the provider; ACCB is a separate application you make yourself. Many eligible families claim only one.
$10 a Day in Burnaby — and what the 2026 pause means
Families do not apply to the $10 a Day program. Providers apply to become $10 a Day ChildCareBC Centres; parents simply enrol at a participating site and pay the $10-a-day rate. Access therefore depends entirely on that centre’s capacity and waitlist, which is why a program described as universal can feel impossible to get into.
Burnaby has $10 a Day sites, including several operated by the Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion. But Budget 2026 paused enrolment of new providers into both the $10 a Day program and the Operating Funding Model during a “stabilization” period. Existing participants keep their current support; no new capacity is being added. The City of Burnaby has said it will press the province on how long the pause lasts and when school-based rollout resumes, and has warned that without provincial capital funding, any new city-built spaces would have to be paid for entirely by Burnaby taxpayers.
What that means for you practically: do not build your plan around getting a $10 a Day spot. Treat one as a windfall if it comes, and plan around CCFRI plus ACCB at a conventional licensed centre.
To find current $10 a Day centres, use the province’s official $10 a Day ChildCareBC centre list, ask the local Child Care Resource and Referral office, or call the provincial line at 1-888-338-6622, option 7.
Where the spaces are in Burnaby
The City of Burnaby supports 15 child care centres: eight developed with Burnaby School District 41 on school sites serving ages 0 to 5, and seven city-owned centres operated by licensed non-profit societies. Between them the city’s own centres hold 329 licensed group child care spaces for infants, toddlers and school-age children. Additional dedicated child care space is included in the new Christine Sinclair Community Centre.
Crucially, the city does not run a central registry. Its own guidance is to contact the child care operators at each centre directly.
Burnaby centres and how each one takes applications
Burnaby Children’s Centre Society — 7500 Hanna Court
This is the one to know about right now: BCCS accepts waitlist applications only between September 1 and September 30 each year. Applications go by email to their office or in person, using the form on their site. Names stay on the list for one year; anyone not placed by the following September is removed automatically and has to reapply. Priority goes to children already enrolled, then their siblings, then the waitlist in sequential order. They serve infancy through school age, and children move up age groups automatically while waiting.
If you are reading this in September, apply this month. If you miss the window you wait a full year for the next one.
Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion (BACI)
BACI runs inclusive, $10-a-Day full-day centres and out-of-school care across Burnaby. Waitlists at all of them have been full, but they turn over — join anyway and check back.
- FairHaven Child Care Centre — 4375 Rumble Street. Infants, toddlers and ages 3–5. Shares a site with a seniors’ residence and runs multigenerational activities.
- Little Eagles Child Care Centre — 3755 Banff Avenue. Infants, toddlers and ages 3–5, in a purpose-built facility.
- Little Friends Child Care Centre — 7550 Cumberland Street. Ages 3 to school entry, 25 spaces, relocated in 2025 to the George Derby Centre.
- Brentwood Park Plus Out of School Care — 1455 Delta Avenue. Kindergarten to Grade 7, wheelchair accessible, with summer programming.
- South Slope Out of School Care — Room 206, 4446 Watling Street. Kindergarten to Grade 7, wheelchair accessible.
Dharma Kids Centre — 3821 Piper Avenue
Pre-kindergarten and preschool for ages 2.5 to 5 (a preschool child must turn 3 by December 31 of the year they start), before and after school care for Seaforth Elementary students, Saturday child care for ages 2.5 to 6, and spring break and summer camps. No infant or toddler program. There is no waitlist fee and they confirm eligibility within one to two business days. Currently enrolled children, graduating children and their siblings get priority.
There is no central waitlist — so build your own
Because every Burnaby centre keeps its own list with its own rules, the search is an admin job more than a research job. What works:
- Build a spreadsheet with every centre, the age range it serves, whether it is CCFRI-opted-in, how it takes applications, the date you applied and the date to follow up.
- Apply widely and early. Twelve to eighteen months ahead is normal for an infant space in Burnaby. Applying while pregnant is not excessive.
- Note the application windows. BCCS is September only. Others take applications year-round. Missing a window costs a year.
- Follow up every two or three months by email, briefly and politely. Lists get cleaned; the families who confirm interest stay on them.
- Cast wider than Burnaby. If you commute, a centre near your workplace in New Westminster, Coquitlam or Vancouver may have a shorter list than one near home.
Waitlist fees are illegal in BC
Since April 1, 2024, licensed child care providers in British Columbia cannot charge families a fee to join a waitlist. Before the ban, roughly 5% of providers — concentrated in metropolitan areas like Burnaby — charged non-refundable fees ranging from $25 to $200 or more, which punished exactly the behaviour the system requires: applying to many centres at once.
If a centre asks you to pay to be added to its list, that is not allowed. A deposit to hold a spot you have actually been offered is a different thing and is still permitted.
How to find every licensed centre in Burnaby
- YMCA Child Care Resource & Referral (CCRR), Burnaby — 4460 Beresford Street, 3rd Floor, Burnaby V5H 0B8. Phone 604-294-1109, email ygv.ccrr@ymcabc.ca. Free personalised referrals to licensed providers, a toy and book lending library, and free drop-in family programs. They also serve New Westminster and the Tri-Cities. This is the single most useful phone call in the whole search.
- Fraser Health child care facility locator — the licensing authority for Burnaby. It lists every licensed facility and, importantly, its inspection history.
- The provincial BC Child Care Map — searchable by city and postal code, and flags $10 a Day sites.
- BC Centre for Ability, Supported Child Development Program — for families whose child needs additional support to participate in a child care setting.
- City of Burnaby Planning Division — 604-294-7944 or planning@burnaby.ca, for questions about city-supported centres and new facilities.
What to check before you accept a spot
- Is the centre opted into CCFRI? Worth up to $900 a month. Ask directly and get it in writing on the fee schedule.
- What is the actual monthly invoice after CCFRI, and what else is charged — registration, supplies, field trips, late-pickup fees?
- Licensing and inspection history on the Fraser Health site. Look for repeat findings rather than one-off items.
- Staff qualifications and turnover. How many educators hold ECE certification, and how long has the current team been there? Turnover matters more to an infant than the quality of the play structure.
- Ratios in practice at 8:00am and 5:00pm, not just at 10:00am when you tour.
- Outdoor space and how often it is used in the rain, which in Burnaby is the majority of the school year.
- Illness policy and how closures are handled — the single biggest source of unplanned parental leave.
- Notice period to withdraw, and whether your deposit is refundable if you get a spot somewhere better.
A realistic timeline
- 18 to 12 months before you need care: get on lists. For an infant space that means during pregnancy. Apply to at least eight to ten centres.
- Every September: reapply to Burnaby Children’s Centre Society, and check whether other centres reset their lists.
- 6 months before: apply for the Affordable Child Care Benefit if your income might qualify. Processing takes time and the benefit is not backdated indefinitely.
- 3 months before: follow up on every list, and start looking at licensed family child care as well as group centres — smaller home-based settings often have shorter lists and are covered by CCFRI too.
- On offer: confirm CCFRI status, get the full fee schedule in writing, and tour at pick-up time before you sign.
Burnaby compared with the rest of the region
Burnaby’s structural problem is infant and toddler capacity, not the number of preschool or out-of-school spaces. If your child is over three, the search gets noticeably easier. If you are looking south of the Fraser instead, our complete Surrey daycare checklist covers the same licensing and touring ground, our best daycares in Surrey guide lists named centres by neighbourhood, and our Langley daycare guide covers costs and waitlists there.
Frequently asked questions
How much does daycare cost in Burnaby?
It depends on the centre’s posted fee and two subsidies. CCFRI removes up to $900 a month from group care for children under 36 months automatically at centres that have opted in, and the Affordable Child Care Benefit can add up to $1,250 a month for a child under 19 months for families that qualify. A family above the income thresholds typically pays the posted fee minus the CCFRI reduction.
Is there a central daycare waitlist in Burnaby?
No. The City of Burnaby directs families to contact each child care operator directly. Every centre keeps its own list with its own rules, and some — such as Burnaby Children’s Centre Society — only accept applications during one month of the year.
When should I apply for daycare in Burnaby?
Twelve to eighteen months before you need the spot, and during pregnancy for an infant space. Apply to eight to ten centres rather than two or three, because there is no shared list.
Can a Burnaby daycare charge me to join its waitlist?
No. Waitlist fees for licensed child care have been prohibited in British Columbia since April 1, 2024. A deposit to secure a spot you have been offered is different and is still allowed.
Are there $10 a Day daycares in Burnaby?
Yes, including centres run by the Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion. Families do not apply to the program — you enrol at a participating centre. Budget 2026 paused new providers joining, so no new $10 a Day capacity is being added during the stabilization period.
What is the difference between CCFRI and the Affordable Child Care Benefit?
CCFRI is applied by the centre automatically with no application and no income test, and lowers the fee you are invoiced. The Affordable Child Care Benefit is income-tested, paid monthly, and you must apply for it yourself and renew it each year. They stack — many families claim only one because they assume the two are the same thing.
Who can help me find a daycare in Burnaby for free?
The YMCA Child Care Resource & Referral office at 4460 Beresford Street, 604-294-1109, gives free referrals to licensed providers in Burnaby, New Westminster and the Tri-Cities, and runs free drop-in family programs.
Related guides
- How to Choose a Daycare: A Parent’s Complete Checklist
- The Best Daycares in Surrey, BC
- Daycare in Langley, BC: Costs, Waitlists & Finding a Spot
- After-School Programs for Kids
- Documents You Need After a Newborn in BC
- Browse daycare and child care listings in the directory
Last updated: September 2026. CCFRI rates are the 2026–27 published amounts and Affordable Child Care Benefit maximums are current as of March 2026. Subsidy amounts, income thresholds and centre waitlist rules change — confirm with the province and with each centre before making decisions.
