{
  "dataset": "prices.childcare",
  "generated": "2026-09-20T13:55:52.635Z",
  "licence": {
    "compilation": "CC BY 4.0",
    "compilation_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
    "attribution": "Tariff Tracker, tarifftracker.io, published by PEF Consulting Partners Limited",
    "underlying": "The figures themselves belong to the bodies named in each dataset's sources. Most are Crown copyright under the Open Government Licence v3. Supplier tariff rates belong to the suppliers who publish them. Check the source terms before you rely on any of it commercially.",
    "corrections": "If a figure here is wrong, say so and we will correct it and record that we did."
  },
  "docs": "https://tarifftracker.io/api/",
  "fields": "https://tarifftracker.io/api/v1/dictionary",
  "as_of": "2026-04-01",
  "sources": [
    {
      "name": "gov.uk, 30 hours free childcare",
      "url": "https://www.gov.uk/30-hours-free-childcare"
    },
    {
      "name": "gov.uk, check if you are eligible",
      "url": "https://www.gov.uk/check-eligible-free-childcare-if-youre-working"
    },
    {
      "name": "gov.uk, Tax Free Childcare",
      "url": "https://www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare"
    },
    {
      "name": "gov.uk, childcare costs on Universal Credit",
      "url": "https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/universal-credit"
    },
    {
      "name": "DfE, early years funding 2026 to 2027",
      "url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-funding-2026-to-2027/early-years-entitlements-local-authority-funding-operational-guide-2026-to-2027"
    },
    {
      "name": "Coram Family and Childcare Survey 2026",
      "url": "https://www.coramfamilyandchildcare.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/03/Childcare-Survey-2026-120326-compressed-final-1.pdf"
    },
    {
      "name": "Scottish Government, early learning and childcare",
      "url": "https://www.gov.scot/policies/early-education-and-care/early-learning-and-childcare/"
    }
  ],
  "caveats": [
    "The 30 hour offer is unchanged for 2026/27 and the rollout is complete, so the figure has not moved since September 2025. The as of date is 1 April 2026 because that is when the earnings thresholds that gate it were last set, not because the hours changed.",
    "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."
  ],
  "data": {
    "vertical": "childcare",
    "name": "Childcare",
    "tagline": "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.",
    "headline": {
      "value": "30",
      "unit": " hours",
      "label": "Funded hours a week for eligible working parents, England",
      "sub": "38 weeks a year, for children aged 9 months to school age. The rollout completed on 1 September 2025, so 2026/27 is the first full year of the mature scheme.",
      "direction": "down",
      "change": "Unchanged for 2026/27",
      "band": "calm",
      "source": "DfE",
      "as_of": "2026-04-01"
    },
    "benchmark": {
      "value": 189,
      "period": "a week",
      "placeholder": "189",
      "what": "what you pay for a part time nursery place",
      "note": "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."
    },
    "stats": [
      {
        "k": "Tax Free Childcare",
        "v": "£2,000",
        "n": "Per child per year, £4,000 if disabled"
      },
      {
        "k": "Universal Credit, one child",
        "v": "£1,071",
        "n": "Per month, 85% of costs"
      },
      {
        "k": "Universal Credit, two or more",
        "v": "£1,836",
        "n": "Per month"
      },
      {
        "k": "Earnings floor, each parent",
        "v": "£2,644",
        "n": "Over 3 months, aged 21 or over, each parent separately"
      }
    ],
    "tables": [
      {
        "title": "What you can claim in England",
        "note": "Application deadlines are hard and people miss them constantly: 31 August for a September start, 31 December for January, 31 March for April.",
        "cols": [
          "Entitlement",
          "Hours",
          "Ages",
          "Who qualifies"
        ],
        "rows": [
          [
            "Working parents",
            "30 a week, 38 weeks",
            "9 months to school age",
            "Both parents working above the earnings floor, neither earning over £100,000"
          ],
          [
            "Universal entitlement",
            "15 a week, 38 weeks",
            "3 and 4 year olds",
            "Every child, no conditions at all"
          ],
          [
            "Targeted entitlement",
            "15 a week, 38 weeks",
            "2 year olds",
            "Families on qualifying benefits, or children with additional needs"
          ],
          [
            "Tax Free Childcare",
            "£2 added per £8 you pay",
            "0 to 11, or 16 if disabled",
            "Same earnings test. Cannot be held with Universal Credit or tax credits."
          ],
          [
            "Universal Credit childcare",
            "85% of costs",
            "Any age in registered childcare",
            "On Universal Credit. Normally paid in arrears, which is a known cash flow trap."
          ]
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "What childcare costs if you do NOT qualify for funded hours",
        "note": "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.",
        "cols": [
          "Age and setting",
          "Part time, 25 hours a week"
        ],
        "rows": [
          [
            "Under 2, nursery",
            "£188.75"
          ],
          [
            "Under 2, childminder",
            "£155.28"
          ],
          [
            "2 year old, nursery",
            "£174.85"
          ],
          [
            "3 to 4 year old, nursery",
            "£67.20"
          ]
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "What you pay if you DO qualify",
        "note": "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.",
        "cols": [
          "Age and setting",
          "Full time, 50 hours, after your funded hours"
        ],
        "rows": [
          [
            "Under 2, nursery",
            "£148.82"
          ],
          [
            "Under 2, childminder",
            "£122.32"
          ],
          [
            "2 year old, nursery",
            "£140.72"
          ],
          [
            "3 to 4 year old, nursery",
            "£132.72"
          ]
        ]
      },
      {
        "title": "The rest of the UK",
        "cols": [
          "Nation",
          "What is offered"
        ],
        "rows": [
          [
            "Scotland",
            "1,140 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."
          ],
          [
            "Wales",
            "Up 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 Ireland",
            "No 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."
          ]
        ]
      }
    ],
    "facts": [
      "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."
    ],
    "support": [
      {
        "name": "30 funded hours",
        "what": "30 hours a week for 38 weeks, worth thousands a year",
        "who": "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."
      },
      {
        "name": "15 hours for every 3 and 4 year old",
        "what": "15 hours a week for 38 weeks",
        "who": "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."
      },
      {
        "name": "Tax Free Childcare",
        "what": "The government adds £2 for every £8, up to £2,000 a year per child or £4,000 if disabled",
        "who": "Working parents meeting the same earnings test. Not available alongside Universal Credit or tax credits."
      },
      {
        "name": "Universal Credit childcare element",
        "what": "85% of your costs, up to £1,071.09 a month for one child or £1,836.16 for two or more",
        "who": "On Universal Credit and in work. Usually paid in arrears, so you pay first and claim back."
      }
    ],
    "page": "https://tarifftracker.io/childcare/"
  }
}