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Childcare Cost Calculator

Work out what childcare really costs after the free childcare hours and the Tax-Free Childcare 20% top-up - per child - and check eligibility and key dates. Worked out in your browser; nothing is sent to a server.

Your children

Your work

For the 30 funded hours and Tax-Free Childcare, eligibility is based on what you earn, not your hours: each working parent must expect to earn at least the equivalent of 16 hours a week at minimum wage (about £10,575 a year), so you can work fewer hours at a higher wage and still qualify - and each parent must stay under £100,000. The 15 universal hours for 3 and 4 year olds don't depend on your income. Separated parents: these checks apply to the household where the child mainly lives (you, plus your partner if you have one). Child maintenance you pay or receive doesn't count as income here, and only one household can claim per child.

Do you qualify? - free hours, Tax-Free Childcare & key dates

Your childcare costs - per child, from your invoice or estimated

Day length & funding settings
A single "supplement" per funded day covers whatever your nursery charges on funded hours (meals, nappies/consumables, extra activities, an extra half-hour). By law these extras are optional and the nursery must let you provide your own (e.g. packed lunch, nappies) to reduce them. Official guidance: free childcare for working parents and free hours for 3 to 4 year olds.

Your costs & savings

These are estimated costs. Every nursery bills differently - how they apply funded hours, what supplements they add, how many weeks a year they charge - so treat these as a guide and check against your own invoice.

Free childcare hours

£0
Full cost / month
£0
With free hours / month

Tax-Free Childcare

£0
You pay in / month
£0
Government tops up / month
Your savings
£0
Saved by free hours / month
£0
Saved by Tax-Free Childcare / month
£0
Total saved / month
Enter each child's fees above to see your costs and savings.

Month-by-month costs

See how your bill changes through the year. It steps down when funded hours start - the term after each child qualifies. Add a nursery start date for each child in the costs section above to begin from the right month.

How the free childcare hours work

Working parents in England can get up to 30 funded hours a week from the term after their child turns 9 months, until they start school. All 3 and 4 year olds get 15 universal hours whatever you earn. Funded hours are term time (38 weeks) but can be "stretched" over the year at fewer hours a week. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run their own schemes.

What you can be charged on funded hours

Funded hours must be free. Nurseries can only add optional charges for meals, consumables (nappies, sun cream) and extra activities - and must offer alternatives, so you can provide your own to cut the cost. Invoices must itemise these separately. That's the "supplement" in this tool.

How Tax-Free Childcare works

For every £8 you pay into a Tax-Free Childcare account, the government adds £2 (a 20% top-up). The top-up is capped at £500 every 3 months per child (about £2,000 a year), or £1,000 every 3 months for a disabled child (about £4,000 a year), and any unused allowance does not roll over between quarters. You can use it alongside the free hours. You'll usually need to be working and earning at least about £10,575 a year each, and under £100,000 each. To work out how much to pay into your childcare account, multiply your nursery invoice (which should already have the free hours taken off) by 0.8: you pay in 80% and the government tops up the other 20%, up to the £500-a-quarter limit. This calculator uses the annual cap and assumes fairly even spending across the year, so for very lumpy costs your real top-up could be a little lower. See Tax-Free Childcare on GOV.UK.

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