If you operate a licensed daycare in Ontario, record-keeping isn't optional. It's the law. The Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 (CCEYA) and Ontario Regulation 137/15 set out exactly what records you need to maintain, how they should be organized, and how long you need to keep them. Getting it wrong can mean fines starting at $750 per violation, scaling up to $100,000 for repeat offences.
This guide breaks down every record-keeping requirement in plain language so you can stay compliant without drowning in paperwork.
What Is the CCEYA?
The Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 is the primary legislation governing licensed child care in Ontario. It replaced the older Day Nurseries Act and introduced a modernized framework covering everything from staff ratios and building standards to nutrition, programming, and documentation.
Ontario Regulation 137/15 sits underneath the CCEYA and contains the detailed, day-to-day requirements that licensees must follow. When we talk about record-keeping obligations, most of the specific rules come from this regulation.
The Ministry of Education is responsible for licensing, inspecting, and enforcing compliance. Program advisors conduct inspections using a standardized checklist, and they gather evidence through observation, interviews, and most importantly, reviewing your records.
The Records Every Licensed Daycare Must Maintain
Children's Records (O. Reg. 137/15, s. 72)
Every child enrolled in your program must have an individual record containing specific information. These records exist to ensure that staff can provide appropriate, responsive care and that critical information is accessible quickly, especially in emergencies.
A child's record must include:
- Full legal name, date of birth, and home address
- Names and contact information of parents or guardians
- Emergency contacts and any custody or access arrangements
- Name and contact details of the child's physician
- Immunization records (for children not yet in school)
- Documentation of allergies, especially anaphylactic allergies
- Any medical conditions that staff need to be aware of
- Individualized plans for children with special needs (section 52)
For infants under one year, the record must also include the parent's written feeding instructions and any physician direction about sleep positioning.
If any required information isn't available, note "parent did not wish to provide" or "not applicable" in the record. This shows inspectors that you made the effort to collect it.
Retention period: Children's records must be kept for a minimum of three years after the child's last day attending the centre.
Daily Attendance Records (O. Reg. 137/15, s. 72(3) and (4))
Daily attendance records are non-negotiable. You must track which children are present each day, by licensed age group. These records serve several critical purposes:
- They confirm you're within your licensed capacity and ratios
- They support evacuation procedures (staff must cross-reference attendance during fire drills)
- They help public health units with contact tracing during disease outbreaks
Attendance records must be easily accessible to staff at all times. During an evacuation, program staff must be able to grab the attendance record and verify at the meeting point that every child has been accounted for.
Failure to maintain proper daily attendance records can result in an administrative penalty of $750, with amounts increasing for repeat violations.
Accident and Injury Reports (O. Reg. 137/15, s. 36(4))
When a child is injured while in your care, you must create a written accident report documenting what happened, and you must provide a copy to the child's parent. The Ministry of Education provides a standard accident report template through the Child Care Licensing System (CCLS). Using the standard template is recommended to ensure you're capturing all required information.
Staff Records
You must maintain records for every employee, volunteer, and student working at your centre. These records must include:
- Proof of a valid criminal reference check with vulnerable sector screening (renewed every 5 years)
- Staff qualification documentation (such as ECE registration)
- First aid certification
Policies and Procedures Documentation
The CCEYA requires documented policies and procedures covering health and safety, emergency preparedness, nutrition, programming, and behaviour guidance. These policies must be compiled in a parent handbook accessible to all families.
Serious Occurrence Reports
Certain incidents must be reported to the Ministry of Education through the Child Care Licensing System within 24 hours. These include a child going missing, a serious injury requiring medical attention, an allegation of abuse, or a disaster on the premises. Serious occurrence reports must also be posted for parents to see.
Insurance Documentation
Under section 71 of O. Reg. 137/15, licensees must carry comprehensive general liability insurance and personal injury coverage. Failure to produce proof of current insurance during an inspection can lead to enforcement action.
Can You Keep Records Digitally?
Yes, and this is a significant development. As of March 8, 2021, amendments to O. Reg. 137/15 explicitly allow Ontario daycares to maintain records in digital-only formats. Before this change, many centres were keeping both paper binders and digital copies, essentially doubling their administrative workload.
The regulation now states that any record, report, or document required under O. Reg. 137/15 may be created or maintained in electronic format unless otherwise specified. This means your children's records, attendance logs, accident reports, staff files, and policy documents can all live digitally.
This is a major opportunity for centres to:
- Reduce printing costs (estimated at an average of $1,800 per centre annually)
- Eliminate the storage burden of physical binders
- Make records easier to find during inspections
However, going digital comes with its own compliance considerations. Your digital records must be easily accessible to program advisors during inspections, organized, searchable, and available on-site. You also need a reliable backup strategy to prevent data loss.
Common Record-Keeping Mistakes
Missing or incomplete children's records. The most common issue inspectors find is missing information in children's files. An outdated emergency contact, an expired immunization record, or a missing allergy plan. A regular audit of your files (at least quarterly) can prevent this.
Attendance records that don't match licensed groups. Your attendance records must be organized by licensed age group, not just a general sign-in sheet. If your centre has infant, toddler, and preschool rooms, each needs its own attendance tracking.
Unsigned or undated accident reports. An accident report without a date or parent signature doesn't demonstrate compliance. Make sure your process includes a step where the parent acknowledges receipt.
Outdated policies. If your parent handbook references the old Day Nurseries Act or hasn't been updated to reflect current CCEYA requirements, that's a compliance gap. Policies should be reviewed and updated at least annually.
Criminal reference checks past their five-year renewal date. This is an easy one to let slip, especially in centres with long-tenured staff. Set calendar reminders well in advance of expiry dates.
A Smarter Approach to Daycare Record-Keeping
Managing all of these requirements across dozens of children, multiple staff members, and ongoing policy updates is a significant administrative burden, especially for smaller centres where the supervisor is also handling day-to-day operations.
This is exactly the problem PaperBridge was built to solve. PaperBridge is a paper-to-digital record management platform designed specifically for licensed Ontario daycares. It uses AI-powered document extraction to convert your existing paper records into organized, searchable digital files, and it's built with CCEYA compliance as a core feature.
With PaperBridge, children's records, attendance logs, accident reports, and staff documentation are all stored in one secure system with Canadian data residency (AWS ca-central-1). Records are structured around the subjects they belong to, making it fast to pull up everything you need when an inspector walks through the door.
Quick Reference: CCEYA Record-Keeping Checklist
- Children's records: Full name, DOB, address, parent/guardian contacts, emergency contacts, physician info, immunization records, allergy/medical plans, custody arrangements. Retain for 3 years after the child's last day.
- Daily attendance: Tracked by licensed age group. Must be accessible at all times, including during evacuations.
- Accident/injury reports: Documented per incident, copy provided to parents. Use the CCLS standard template.
- Staff records: Criminal reference check (renewed every 5 years), qualifications, first aid certification.
- Policies and procedures: Parent handbook covering health/safety, emergency preparedness, nutrition, programming, behaviour guidance. Updated annually.
- Serious occurrence reports: Filed via CCLS within 24 hours. Posted for parent visibility.
- Insurance: Current general liability and personal injury coverage on file.
Nov8 Labs builds software that makes complex processes simple. PaperBridge is our record management platform for Ontario daycares, designed to keep you compliant with the CCEYA without the paperwork headache.