Nursery Fees Calculator UK: Costs by Region and Age

By the Babbez team · UK Guide (England data) · Sources checked November 2026

Nursery and other childcare fees in England averaged £7.18 an hour for under-twos, £7.09 for two-year-olds and £6.78 for three- and four-year-olds in the DfE’s 2025 provider survey, across all providers. Private group-based providers averaged £8.38 an hour for under-twos. A 10-hour day at £7.18 is about £71.80.

Key takeaways

• Region: for under-twos, the mean runs from £6.19 an hour in Yorkshire and The Humber to £8.95 in London, £2.76 more.
• Private nurseries: the DfE’s under-two mean, £8.38 an hour, is about 17% above all providers (our analysis).
• Funded hours: our worked under-two London place (below) goes from about £1,074 to about £224 a month with 30 funded hours a week for 38 weeks. Who qualifies is set out on gov.uk, not here.
• England only: the DfE figures here do not cover Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

Nursery fees calculator: how much will nursery cost you?

Pick your region, your child’s age, your hours and the funded hours to include. You get a planning estimate from official England averages, not your nursery’s prices. Have a fee sheet? Type in its hourly fee, or its day rate ÷ hours.

We call the sum behind the tool the Nursery-Month Formula:

1. Hours a week × weeks a year = your hours at nursery.
2. Take off funded hours: your weekly choice × up to 38 weeks, never more than you attend.
3. Hours left × the hourly fee ÷ 12 = your month.

Tax-Free Childcare is left out of the sum.

What are the average nursery fees by region?

In 2025, mean hourly fees were highest in London, followed by the South East and East of England. They were lowest in Yorkshire and The Humber and the North West, the DfE says.

Mean hourly childcare fee by region, 2025

Region	Under 2 (£)	Ages 3–4 (£)
London	8.95	8.60
South East	7.23	7.03
East of England	7.20	6.74
South West	6.85	6.37
North East	6.83	6.06
West Midlands	6.63	6.42
East Midlands	6.57	6.14
North West	6.44	6.02
Yorkshire and The Humber	6.19	5.82
England, all	7.18	6.78
England, private	8.38	7.86

Source: DfE, Childcare and early years provider survey 2025. Regional rows and “England, all” are means for all providers; “England, private” is private group-based providers. Figures for age two are in the tool.

Before you use these numbers:

• All providers means all providers. The regional rows include childminders and schools, and overall, private group-based providers charged parents the highest average fees and childminders charged parents the lowest average fees. So a regional mean is often not what a private nursery charges. Our childminder vs nursery guide compares the two.
• The survey changed. The DfE says estimates of the average fees charged by “all providers” in 2025 are slightly higher than under its earlier method, by between approximately 13 pence per hour (for children aged 3 to 4) and approximately 20 pence per hour (for children aged under 2). So the 2024 and 2025 all-provider means cannot be directly compared.
• The data has a date. Fieldwork was between May and July 2025, before the September 2025 expansion to 30 hours. Today’s fee sheets may differ; the next release is due in December 2026.

How much is nursery per day?

The DfE publishes hourly fees, so a day rate here is our own sum: the England mean × a 10-hour day.

A 10-hour day at the England means

Age	All providers (£)	Private group-based (£)
Under 2	71.80	83.80
Age 2	70.90	81.30
Ages 3–4	67.80	78.60

What do funded hours take off the bill?

Quoted from gov.uk: check the conditions on its eligibility page or ask your local council.

• Working parents: “You may be able to get 30 hours of free childcare a week through the Free Childcare for Working Parents scheme.” “Your child must be aged 9 months to 4 years old and you must live in England.” It says you and any partner “will need to be in work or about to start a new job” and to “earn over a certain amount”. The statutory guidance says this starts “the term after” your child turns 9 months and you have “a valid eligibility code”.
• Three and four-year-olds: “All 3 to 4-year-olds in England can get 570 free hours per year. It’s usually taken as 15 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year.” “Some 3 to 4-year-olds are eligible for 30 hours of free childcare a week.” gov.uk says this childcare “stops when your child starts in reception class (or reaches compulsory school age, if later)”; see reception age.
• Two-year-olds with extra support: gov.uk says “Your 2 year old can get 15 hours a week of free childcare” if you live in England and “you or your child are eligible - you must get certain benefits or support”, for 38 weeks of the year.

Our worked example is a child in England aged 9 months to under two, at nursery for 30 hours a week (say 3 days of 10 hours) for 48 weeks, at each region’s all-provider mean fee. That is 1,440 hours, leaving 300 to pay for with 30 funded hours for 38 weeks. Estimates, so yours will differ:

Estimated month: under-two, all-provider mean

Funded hours	Yorkshire and The Humber (£)	London (£)
None	743	1,074
30 a week	155	224

Term-time or spread across the year?

gov.uk says “You may be able to get free childcare for more than 38 weeks a year if you take fewer hours over more weeks.” “Check with your childcare provider to find out if taking fewer hours over more weeks is something they offer.”

In the DfE’s 2025 survey, 32% of private group-based providers offering the 30 hours for three- and four-year-olds allowed them term-time only. Term-time-only funded hours can make holiday months cost more, and our tool assumes you can use every funded hour across your weeks, so ask for the month-by-month bill.

What can a nursery still charge for?

“Free” isn’t the whole bill. gov.uk says “you may be asked to pay for some extras, such as” meals, nappies, any hours on top of your funded hours, and activities such as trips. It also says:

• “If you do not want to pay for these extras, your provider should agree to an alternative arrangement.”
• “You can still get the free childcare if you do not pay for any extra costs.”
• “If your provider says you must pay for extras and will not agree to an alternative arrangement, speak to your local council.”

The statutory guidance to local authorities says “There must not be any mandatory charges for parents in relation to the free hours.” It adds that “Invoices and receipts should be itemised”. We give no view on any nursery’s charges: check with your local council.

Five questions for your fee sheet

We call these five questions the Fee-Sheet Check. Ask them before you sign:

• Rate: what is the fee at my child’s age, and which hours does a day cover?
• Funded hours: from which date, which sessions can be funded, and are they term-time only or spread out?
• Extras: which charges are optional, and what is the alternative if I opt out?
• Bills: is the monthly bill the same all year, with each charge shown separately?
• Changes: when did fees last rise, and is there a deposit or registration fee?

What else can help with nursery fees?

gov.uk says “As well as getting Free Childcare for Working Parents, you may be able to get either” Tax-Free Childcare or Universal Credit childcare.

On Tax-Free Childcare: “For every £8 you pay into the account, the government will top it up by £2.” “The total top up you can get for each child is £500 every 3 months (up to £2,000 a year).” “This goes up to £1,000 every 3 months if your child is disabled (up to £4,000 a year).”

gov.uk adds: “You’ll usually need to be working (or returning to work) and your child must be 11 or younger (16 or younger if they’re disabled).” “Your childcare provider must be signed up to the Tax-Free Childcare scheme.”

gov.uk also says “You cannot get both Tax-Free Childcare and Universal Credit childcare at the same time.” Use the gov.uk childcare calculator to check the help you could get; our tool does not.

Getting ready for the first day? See what clothes to send to nursery.

Frequently asked questions