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Nursery Costs and their affect on Household Budgets

Nursery expenses refer to fees paid to day nurseries, nursery schools and classes, and playgroups or pre-schools.

Nursery expenses in detail:

In the UK, nursery costs are in the range of £94.03 (Yorkshire and Humberside) to £140.02 (London) per week for children under 2. For children above 2, nursery costs vary from £87.94 (Yorkshire & Humberside) to £136.93 (London). All these costs are for 25 hours of nursery every week.

Types of nurseries:

Let's look at the different types of nurseries for children in the UK.

Day nurseries: Day nurseries provide care to kids aged six weeks to five years. They provide a place for playing, learning, eating, and resting. There are around 11,500 day nurseries in the UK. Day nurseries provide guaranteed care for nearly 50 weeks in a year, even if their staff is unwell, which is better than childminders and nannies. Registered day nurseries are governed by Ofsted, the chief inspector of schools in England, which performs checks on the quality of service and safety. Day nurseries are available for different times like school times, from 9 to 3, or half days.

Example 1:

Kids 1st Nurseries have many day nurseries in areas like Darlington, Durham, Low Fell, and Wynyard. The day nurseries provide homemade food including breakfast, lunch and tea. It also offers high security with a fingerprint entry and CCTV systems. In 2013-14, Kids 1st nursery won the outstanding early years' provider award from Ofsted. They are open from Monday to Friday from 0730 to 1800, and they accept children from the age of six months to eight years.

Nursery schools: Nursery schools are schools that serve as an educational centre for children before they start going to primary schools. Some nursery schools may also accommodate slightly older children.

Example 2:

ACE Nursery School in Cambridge accepts children in the age range of two and a half to five years. Their early morning session starts at 830 AM and afternoon session ends at 400 PM. There is a supervised lunch time from 1230 PM to 130 PM in which children are expected to bring their own food. An after-school club is available at an additional cost from 4 PM to 530 PM. A typical full day involves activities such as rhymes, chatting, art and puzzle games, and listening to stories. In 2014, the autumn session begins from 4th September and ends on Thursday 18th December, which is nearly three months. Fees depend on how many sessions will the kids attend for each week during the term. For example, the cost of one part-morning session (8:45 to 11:15 AM) for every week of the term is £120. The cost of five all-day sessions per week for the entire term is £2,300.

Nursery classes: Local schools provide separate places, such as a separate building and playground, for children aged 3 and 4. Nursery classes can be available for a full school day from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM. If nursery classes are a part of the state scheme, then they are free of charge.

Example 3:

Lewisham has given a free place for part-time nursery education for all children aged 3 and 4. Also, several primary schools in Lewisham have a nursery class within them.

Among the different types of nurseries, nearly 10 percent families use day nurseries and 10 percent use nursery schools, either private, government or ones attached to a primary school. Pre-schools, which offer part-time services on a session basis are used by 5 percent of households.

If you want to figure out how much nursery expenses are impacting your overall household budget, our household budget calculator can be of help.