Get Ready to Apply for Wage Supports

Wage Supports for Early Childhood Educators offers payments to staff at eligible child care programs. Get an overview of the program.

This page outlines how program administrators can prepare before applying.

Make sure your program is eligible for the Registry Bonus

Wage Supports offers an optional Registry Bonus to eligible programs who have all relevant staff with confirmed employment in the Registry. Your program can get an extra 25% of your program’s phase 2 payment.

As long as you use the bonus to compensate staff for their work, you have options about how to apply the money. Learn how your program can use funds from Wage Supports

Becoming eligible for the bonus is simple — don’t miss out!

To be eligible, all you need to do is make sure relevant staff have active and up-to-date accounts in the Connecticut Early Childhood Professional Registry by March 31, 2023.

Specifically, you need to:

  • Make sure you have Administrative Access in the Registry, which you will need to confirm your staff in the Registry to meet the March 31 deadline
  • Confirm that all relevant staff have current accounts that list your program as the employer

Don’t run out of time to get the bonus!

What does “relevant staff” mean?

Only relevant staff need to have confirmed employment in the Registry for a program to be eligible for the bonus. Relevant staff means: 
Teaching staff who count in ratio
• Administrators
Owners

All other staff don’t need to have accounts in the Registry.   

How program leaders with administrative access can confirm staff have active, current Registry accounts

1. Log into the Registry

Visit the website.

2. Go to the Program Administration section and select Staff Confirmation

Your account needs to have Administrative Access to access this section.  If you don’t — and no one else in your program does either — you need to apply right away or you could miss out on the bonus. Learn how to request Administrative Access.

Using the Registry on a mobile device?

If you’re the administrator of a child care center, the administrator access function won’t work on phones or tablets. Please try logging in on a computer. Mobile administrator access is available for administrators of family child care programs.

3. Check the roster of people who work in your program

You need to make sure that all relevant staff have active accounts with updated information. Other types of employees don’t need to have accounts. 

4. Review each staff member’s records and confirm they have an active Registry account with up-to-date information

Check their:

  • Job title
  • Start date
  • Primary age of children the staff member is working with
  • Compensation rate (hourly wage/hours per week, weeks per year) 
  • Currently enrolled in ECE degree (projected graduation year, institution)

5. Take action if information is missing or incorrect 

If you find:

  • A teacher,  administrator, or owner isn’t in the Registry
    Ask them to create an account right away. You can refer them to the Registry instructions
  • A teacher,  administrator, or owner is listed as “Inactive”
    This means the person hasn’t used the Registry in over a year, so their registration has expired automatically. Tell them to log in and update their information right away. 

When you’re talking to staff, emphasize:

  • Joining the Registry can have a big benefit for their careers
  • Your whole program — and all staff — will lose out on the bonus if they don’t sign up in time 
  • They should routinely update their Registry accounts if any information changes — including college credit or degrees they’ve earned
What information do staff need to update to have an active Registry account?

Personal information:
First name
Last name
Address
Date of birth
SSN/INIT
Daytime phone #
Evening phone #
Email address

Current employment information:
Program’s name
Job title
Start date
Primary age
Compensation rate (hourly wage/hours per week, weeks per year, currently enrolled in ECE degree, projected graduation year, and institution)

6. Once all the information is up to date, confirm employment for each employee

All teaching staff, administrators, and owners need to appear in the system as “Confirmed Participants.” Once that’s done, you’re all set.

Make sure to complete all steps by March 31, 2023.

Share guidance about using the Registry

Use our flyers to let providers and programs know how to register and keep their accounts active.
Early Childhood Professional Registry (English)
Early Childhood Professional Registry (Spanish)

What’s next?

  • Questions about applying? Call 2-1-1 Child Care at 800-505-1000 or send an email.
  • Watch our webinar about the Wage Supports extra Registry Bonus. OEC hosted 2 informational webinars for child care programs about the Registry Bonus. Learn how your program can qualify. Watch the video now.
  • Check your inbox for an email from childcarefunding@ctunitedway.org. You should have received the email on March 2, 2023.
Last updated March 9, 2023