How to Work Out Nursery Fees with 15 & 30 Hours Free Childcare

To work out nursery fees with funding, start with the hours your child will attend, subtract the funded hours available for that period, then calculate the cost of the remaining care and any agreed extras. If you qualify, Tax-Free Childcare may help with the balance.

That sounds straightforward, but what happens when your nursery spreads funding across the year? Or when your child attends three full days, yet your invoice still includes childcare charges?

At MiChild, we know parents want a clear monthly figure they can plan around. Here’s how to put the numbers together using England’s funded childcare rules, with examples to make the calculations easier.

Key takeaways

• The 15-hour entitlement provides up to 570 hours annually; 30 hours provides up to 1,140.
• Stretched funding gives fewer hours each week across more weeks, without increasing the annual entitlement.
• Calculate paid childcare and agreed extras separately, using your nursery’s actual fee structure.
• Tax-Free Childcare can help eligible families pay remaining costs, but quarterly limits affect the saving.

How to Work Out Nursery Fees With Funding

Before reaching for a calculator, ask your nursery for its current fee sheet and a breakdown of how funding applies to your sessions. Our fees and funding information explains the support available to discuss with your nursery manager.

You’ll need:

• Your child’s booked hours each week.
• The number of weeks you need childcare.
• Your confirmed funded entitlement and its start date.
• How many funded hours the nursery will apply.
• The price of additional care and any optional extras.

Check the session types and hours available at your chosen setting. A nursery might charge by session or day rather than offering every hour at one flat rate.

Before confirming your place, review the nursery’s key policies and ask about notice periods for changing booked days. This matters if you expect your working hours to change, or if grandparents will provide care on some days. A budget based on one attendance pattern may need revisiting when your arrangements change. Ask whether the estimate includes any deposit or registration payment.

Separate childcare from extras

The calculation is:

Cost of additional paid childcare + agreed extras = nursery bill

Where an hourly rate applies, multiply the unfunded hours by that rate. Where session prices apply, ask the nursery to calculate the remaining charge.

Under government guidance on funded childcare, meals, nappies and additional activities can carry optional charges. Parents must be able to access funded hours without buying extras or additional childcare.

Discuss food and mealtimes, what you would like included and the alternatives available. This helps you understand your bill without assuming that “funded” means everything is included.

How to Calculate 30 Hours Free Childcare

Start with the annual entitlement rather than assuming 30 hours applies every week.

The universal 15-hour offer for three- and four-year-olds usually starts the term after their third birthday. Eligible working families can receive 30 funded hours for children aged nine months to four years. Some two-year-olds qualify separately for 15 hours through additional support criteria.

The full 30-hour entitlement includes any universal 15 hours; it does not give you 45 hours.

For a complete funding year:

Funding begins from the relevant term once eligibility and application requirements are met. If your child starts partway through the year, ask how many hours remain available; don’t automatically subtract the full annual amount.

For working-parent funding, keep your eligibility code up to date and confirm when the nursery can first apply it. Funding does not necessarily begin on your child’s first day.

Term-time or stretched funding?

Term-time funding normally provides 15 or 30 hours weekly over 38 weeks. If you need care during other weeks, those hours require a separate calculation. Stretched funding spreads the same allowance across more weeks:

These are mathematical averages. Your nursery will confirm its allocation and rounding arrangements.

For a parent working throughout the year, stretching can make the weekly pattern easier to manage. It doesn’t create extra funded hours, and term-time care may suit another family better.

How to Work Out Childcare Costs With 30 Free Hours

Let’s put that into practice. These examples use an invented £7 hourly rate, not MiChild prices. They assume every remaining hour is charged at that rate, with no discounts, and that the full funded allocation can be used.

Example one: term-time childcare

Your child attends for 40 hours weekly during the 38 funded weeks.

Any agreed meals or other extras would be added separately.

This example covers term-time attendance only. If you book holiday childcare, add those costs rather than assuming funding continues unchanged.

Example two: childcare across 52 weeks

Now imagine your child attends 40 hours weekly across 52 chargeable weeks, using the full 1,140-hour entitlement.

Calculate annually to avoid small errors from rounding weekly funding:

1. Total booked hours: 40 × 52 = 2,080.
2. Subtract funded hours: 2,080 − 1,140 = 940 paid hours.
3. Multiply by the hourly rate: 940 × £7 = £6,580.
4. Divide by 12: £6,580 ÷ 12 = approximately £548.33 monthly.

If agreed extras total £60 monthly, the illustrative bill becomes £608.33 before any Tax-Free Childcare support.

With 570 funded hours instead, the same attendance would leave 1,510 paid hours. At £7, that is £10,570 annually, or approximately £880.83 monthly before extras.

Your nursery may invoice actual monthly attendance or spread annual fees evenly. Ask which applies, and check how closures, bank holidays and absences are treated in your agreement.

If the same child attended all 52 weeks but used funding only during term time, the annual childcare charge in this example would still be £6,580: £2,660 for term weeks plus £3,920 for 14 unfunded weeks.

The clearest way to budget is to ask your nursery for a personalised breakdown showing your booked hours, funding, remaining childcare charges and agreed extras. At MiChild, we’re happy to talk through the figures and help you understand what your monthly bill could look like. Get in touch with our team to discuss your childcare needs.