3. Learn about claiming child-care expenses

If you have to pay for child care so you can go to work, you may be able to claim child-care expenses.

ODSP takes off the amount you claim in child-care expenses when it figures out what your is. This means that you get may get to keep more of what you get from ODSP.

For example, you earn $1,500 from your job. But you claim $500 in child-care expenses. ODSP sets your income at $1,000 because it takes away the $500 in child-care expenses. And because your income for ODSP is now $1,000, your ODSP amount does not go down.

What you cannot claim

You cannot claim child-care expenses if:

A member of your looks after your child.
Someone who has a legal duty to support the child, such as a parent, looks after your child.
You get money from another source to pay for your child care, for example, money from your local government. This is called a “fee subsidy”. But if your child care costs more than the fee subsidy, you can claim the difference.

If you live with your child’s other parent

The general rule is that you cannot claim child-care expenses if:

you live with your child's other parent, and
only one of you is working.

When you can claim child-care expense

You can claim these expenses if your child's other parent cannot look after the child because of their disability or because they're:

looking for a job, or
going to school or a training program.

How much you can claim

The amount you can claim depends on who you get child care from.

If your child-care provider is:	You can claim:
licensed, for example, a daycare centre, nursery school, or daycare agency	the full amount you pay
an Extended Day Program, which is provided by school boards for kindergarten children before and after school	the full amount you pay
not licensed, for example, friends, neighbours, or others who provide child care in their homes, after‑school programs, parks and recreation programs, or camps	what you pay, up to $600 a month for each child