Childcare · DfE

Childcare

Thirty funded hours if you qualify, and about £189 a week for a part time place if you do not. The gap between those two numbers is the whole story.

Funded hours a week for eligible working parents, England
30 hours

38 weeks a year, for children aged 9 months to school age. The rollout completed on 1 September 2025.

Change
Fully rolled out

Source: DfE

Tax Free Childcare
£2,000
Per child per year, £4,000 if disabled
Universal Credit, one child
£1,071
Per month, 85% of costs
Universal Credit, two or more
£1,836
Per month
Earnings floor, each parent
£2,644
Over 3 months, aged 21+

Is yours normal?

Put in what you pay for a part time nursery place. It is worked out in your browser and sent nowhere.

a week for what you pay for a part time nursery place

Compared against £189 a week, which is what a family NOT eligible for the funded hours pays on average for a part time under two place in England. If you are getting funded hours you should be well below this.

Below: what is changing, what you could be paying, and what you might be owed. The longer detail stays folded until you want it.

What you might be owedHelp that routinely goes unclaimed

What you might be owed

Routinely unclaimed. We do not administer any of these and take nothing for pointing at them.

30 funded hours

30 hours a week for 38 weeks, worth thousands a year

Working parents of a child aged 9 months to school age, both above the earnings floor, neither over £100,000. Apply on gov.uk for a code and reconfirm every three months.

15 hours for every 3 and 4 year old

15 hours a week for 38 weeks

Every child. No income test, no work test, no conditions. This one is routinely not claimed simply because people do not know it is universal.

Tax Free Childcare

The government adds £2 for every £8, up to £2,000 a year per child or £4,000 if disabled

Working parents meeting the same earnings test. Not available alongside Universal Credit or tax credits.

Universal Credit childcare element

85% of your costs, up to £1,071.09 a month for one child or £1,836.16 for two or more

On Universal Credit and in work. Usually paid in arrears, so you pay first and claim back.

What you need to knowThe things that stop the figure being misread

What you need to know

The things that stop the headline figure being misread.

  • The England expansion is finished. From 1 September 2025 eligible working parents of children under 2 went from 15 funded hours to 30. There are no further stages scheduled.
  • The earnings floor is roughly 16 hours a week at minimum wage over three months: £2,643.68 if you are 21 or over, £2,256.80 at 18 to 20, £1,664 under 18 or apprentice.
  • If either parent expects to earn over £100,000 adjusted net income, the whole household loses the entitlement. There is no taper.
  • Tax Free Childcare and Universal Credit cannot be held together. Run the numbers before opening a Tax Free Childcare account, because you may be worse off.
  • You must reconfirm your eligibility code every three months or the funding stops.
  • Government funding paid to providers in 2026/27 averages £12.04 an hour for under twos, £8.90 for two year olds and £6.42 for three and four year olds.
  • Coram reports the England full time under two cost fell 39% against 2025, and that a part time place for an eligible under two is now theoretically free during term time.
  • Three and four year olds are the exception to the pattern in the tables below. Their funded hours were already universal before the expansion, so the full time figure buys genuinely more care rather than reflecting a new entitlement.
The full published figuresCheck our working

The full published figures, for anyone who wants to check our working or find their own line.

What you can claim in England

Application deadlines are hard and people miss them constantly: 31 August for a September start, 31 December for January, 31 March for April.

Scroll sideways to see every column

EntitlementHoursAgesWho qualifies
Working parents30 a week, 38 weeks9 months to school ageBoth parents working above the earnings floor, neither earning over £100,000
Universal entitlement15 a week, 38 weeks3 and 4 year oldsEvery child, no conditions at all
Targeted entitlement15 a week, 38 weeks2 year oldsFamilies on qualifying benefits, or children with additional needs
Tax Free Childcare£2 added per £8 you pay0 to 11, or 16 if disabledSame earnings test. Cannot be held with Universal Credit or tax credits.
Universal Credit childcare85% of costsAny age in registered childcareOn Universal Credit. Normally paid in arrears, which is a known cash flow trap.

What childcare costs if you do NOT qualify for funded hours

The full price, before any entitlement. This is what you pay if either parent earns over £100,000, or one of you is not working, or your child is under 9 months.

Scroll sideways to see every column

Age and settingPart time, 25 hours a week
Under 2, nursery£188.75
Under 2, childminder£155.28
2 year old, nursery£174.85
3 to 4 year old, nursery£67.20

What you pay if you DO qualify

These are Coram's figures for a full time, 50 hour place with the funded 30 hours already taken off, so you are paying for the remaining 20. That is why these numbers are lower than the part time ones above despite buying twice as much care. It is not a misprint, it is the entitlement doing its job.

Scroll sideways to see every column

Age and settingFull time, 50 hours, after your funded hours
Under 2, nursery£148.82
Under 2, childminder£122.32
2 year old, nursery£140.72
3 to 4 year old, nursery£132.72

The rest of the UK

Scroll sideways to see every column

NationWhat is offered
Scotland1,140 hours a year for all 3 and 4 year olds and eligible 2 year olds, regardless of whether the parents work. The only offer in the UK not tied to employment.
WalesUp to 30 hours a week for 48 weeks for 3 and 4 year olds, being 10 hours early education plus up to 20 hours childcare. Both parents working, household cap £100,000. Flying Start covers 2 year olds in designated areas.
Northern IrelandNo working parent hours entitlement. A funded pre school programme, plus the Childcare Subsidy Scheme giving 15% off registered childcare bills, capped at £203 per child per month from April 2026.
Recent changesWhat moved, and when

Recent changes

The whole log →
18 Mar 26Relief
ChildcareCoram Link

Childcare costs fall sharply for families who qualify for funded hours

Coram's Childcare Survey 2026 reports the cost of a full time under two nursery place in England fell 39% against 2025 for eligible families, following the completion of the 30 hour rollout in September 2025. A part time place for an eligible under two is now theoretically free during term time. Families who do not qualify still pay about £189 a week for the same part time place.

Coram's full time figures are net of the funded entitlement and its part time figures are not, which is why full time can appear cheaper than part time in the same table.

Source: Coram

Where this comes from, and where it could be wrongEvery source, and the limits

Known limits of this page

The Coram full time figures are net of the funded entitlement and the part time ones are not, which is why full time looks cheaper than part time. That is Coram's own framing and we have kept it rather than silently recalculating, but it will look like an error if you skim the table.

Coram's report table and its own press release disagree on the Wales under two part time figure, £163.33 against £166.33. We have not published a Wales cost figure rather than pick one.

We could not obtain primary confirmation of the two 2024 rollout stages, so no dated history of the expansion is shown before September 2025.

Sources

30 price changes logged. Every one had a date you could have known in advance.

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