Free tool · England

Work out your nursery bill

Start with the rate on your nursery's fee sheet. Add the days you need, any funded hours and the usual extras. The calculator gives you a monthly estimate and shows how it got there.

Parents can use it without signing up. Nurseries can also add it to their own website for free.

Run a nursery?

Put this calculator on your website with your own fees.

Add your rates, age bands, extras and stretched-hours policy. Parents get an estimate without phoning the office. It is free, and there is no sales call.

Build your free calculator

Nursery fee calculator // FreeEngland

Where do you live?

Child one

Age band

Choose an age band rather than entering a name or date of birth. Funding normally begins from a term boundary, which is why the next question matters.

Has the term after this birthday already started? Funded hours usually begin in the term after a child reaches the relevant age.

Full days a week

Half days a week

Your nursery's rates

Copy the relevant figures from the nursery's fee sheet. If you cannot find one, ask the nursery for its current rates.

3 to 4 yearsPer hour

Hours in a full day

Hours in a half day

These figures let us compare funded hours with full and half-day bookings.

How many weeks a year do you pay for?

With stretched funding, the yearly entitlement is spread over more weeks. That means fewer funded hours in each week. Use the number of billed weeks shown on the fee sheet.

Government-funded hours

NoneUniversal funded hours: 15 hours a week for 38 weeksAvailable to every family once the child is old enough. You may qualify, so check the official checker before using it in your budget.Working-parent funded hours: 30 hours a week for 38 weeksEligibility depends on the parents' work and earnings. You may qualify, so check the official checker before using it in your budget.

Add a second child

Extras

Will you pay through Tax-Free Childcare?The government top-up is 25% of what you pay into the account. That covers 20% of the childcare bill, up to £500 every 3 months and £2,000 a year for each child.

This estimate assumes costs are spread through the year and uses the standard cap. Actual top-ups are capped every 3 months. GOV.UK lists higher limits of £1,000 every 3 months and £4,000 a year for a disabled child. Check eligibility on GOV.UK.

Your estimate

£0 a month

£0 a year, about £0 an hour after funding.

Add the nursery's rate above to see a total. There is no example rate loaded.

Fees before funding: £0
Funded hours: None applied
Extras: None added
What you actually pay: £0

Rules checked as at 12 August 2026. This is an estimate for England, not financial advice. Check the final amount with your nursery. Official information: childcarechoices.gov.uk.

A useful free thing for your website. The rest of DullDocs handles the paperwork.

Start with the calculator using your own fees. If the documents behind the setting need sorting too, DullDocs keeps staff records, policies, certificates and inspection evidence in order.

Add it to your website Run your free readiness scan See pricing

How UK nursery fees actually work in 2026

This section is being checked before publication. Nursery billing varies, particularly around sessions, deposits and stretched funding, so we will not fill the gap with a guess.

Questions parents ask

The answers are still being checked against the official guidance. They will appear here once that is done.