What will nursery really cost you?
Your free hours, the nursery’s prices, meals and government top-ups, added up into one monthly figure for every nursery near you.
Every one of London’s 3,315 nurseries and pre-schools, from the Ofsted register. Prices from nurseries’ own websites, starting with Lewisham.
Why “free hours” still cost money
What parents only find out from the first bill.
- “I get 30 free hours a week”
- Only in school term, which is 38 weeks of the year. Most nurseries are open all year, so they spread those hours out: you get about 22 free hours a week, every week. Any hours above that, you pay for.
- “So the free hours cost nothing?”
- The hours themselves are free. Lunch, snacks and nappies usually aren’t: most nurseries add £5 to £15 a day for them. You can say no and bring your own, but most parents don’t.
- “Is there any help with the rest?”
- If you both work, the government pays a fifth of the rest of your bill: you pay £8 and it adds £2, up to £2,000 a year per child. It’s called Tax-Free Childcare, and you set it up yourself on GOV.UK.
- “Can nursery ever actually be free?”
- Yes. Stay within your free hours (about 22 a week all year, or 30 in term time) and bring your own lunch and nappies, and your bill should be £0. The nursery can’t make you pay for the extras. Not every nursery offers free-hours-only places, though, so ask before you sign up.
How many free hours you get
Example: a 7-month-old
If you're a single parent who works, or a couple who both work, you get 30 free hours a week in term time from the term after your baby turns 9 months, right up to school. "Work" means expecting to earn about £204 a week or more each; parental leave counts, and so does a partner who can't work because they get a carer's, incapacity or disability benefit.
Free hours only start on 1 January, 1 April or 1 September, and you need your code before that day or you wait a whole term. You can apply up to 6 months early. Expecting? It’s worth knowing your dates now.
Check your dates