In 2006, the Government introduced the Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB), which
provides all families with up to $1,200 per year for each child under the age of 6. The
UCCB currently provides direct federal support to approximately 1.7 million families with
young children.
Now, the Government is proposing to enhance the UCCB by providing up to $1,920 per
year for each child under the age of 6, and introducing a new benefit of up to $720 per
year for children aged 6 through 17.
The UCCB enhancements would take effect starting January 2015 and would begin to
be reflected in monthly payments to recipients in July 2015, pending parliamentary
approval of the necessary legislation. The July 2015 payment would include up to six
months of benefits to cover the January to June 2015 period. About 4 million families
are expected to benefit from these enhancements. These enhancements to the UCCB
would replace the Child Tax Credit, starting in the 2015 tax year.