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Childcare costs in Lancaster

21 nurseries and pre-schools registered with Ofsted in Lancaster, Lancashire. We hold a published fee we can stand behind for 7 of them; for the other 14 we don't (not found, or what we read did not pass our checks).

iSources and method

SourceNurseries: Ofsted, Childcare providers and inspections.
Fees: each nursery's own website, read by kinplace's fee reader.

Things to know
  • A fee is left out when the page is shared with other nurseries (unless it is a chain's own price list, checked again for each branch), on another website, for an earlier year, or read more than 120 days ago.

Published prices run from £5.00 to £10.00 an hour (the middle is £7.20); a full day at a day nursery from £56.80 to £75.52.

Read from the nurseries' own fee pages, most recently on 16 October 2026.

Work out the cost for your child's age and days

Funded hours, by age

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SourceNational rules for England from September 2025: gov.uk (working parents, 2 years, 3 and 4 years).

Things to know
  • Nurseries may charge for meals, nappies and activities on funded hours; those charges are not in the figures here.
AgeFunded hoursWho
Under 9 monthsNoneEvery family pays the full fee.
9 months to 2 yearsUp to 30 hours a week, 38 weeks a yearWorking parents (gov.uk)
2 yearsUp to 30 hours a week if you work; 15 hours if you get certain supportWorking parents, or families on some benefits (gov.uk)
3 and 4 years, until Reception15 hours a week for every child; up to 30 for working parentsEveryone (gov.uk)

Hours start the term after your child reaches the age: terms start on 1 September, 1 January and 1 April. 30 hours a week for 38 weeks is 1,140 hours a year, and many nurseries spread them over more weeks. Working parents apply on gov.uk for a code and reconfirm it every three months. Key dates works out when your child's hours start.

Nurseries with a published fee (7)

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How it is worked out"A year full time" is 5 days of 10 hours for 51 weeks (2,550 hours). With 30 funded hours (a child from 9 months to 4 years, parents working) 1,140 of them are free and 1,410 are paid at the nursery's hourly rate. Pre-schools open for sessions, not full days, so only their hourly rate is shown.

Things to know
  • A fee is the nursery's published price on the date it was read.

Cheapest hour first.

Nurseries whose fee we do not hold (14)

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Things to know
  • Their own fee page was not found, or what we read did not pass our checks, so we show nothing rather than a guess.

For comparison

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SourceCoram Family and Childcare, Childcare Survey 2026: average nursery price for 50 hours a week after the working-parent entitlement (paying for 20 hours), by region.

Things to know
  • A survey average, not any nursery's own price.

A paid hour at a typical nursery in the North West region costs £6.78 for a child under 2 and £6.17 for a 2-year-old. That is a survey average, not any nursery's own price.

More in nurseries in Lancaster, ranked by what Ofsted found, and private school fees.

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Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Sources and methods: tap the (i) on each section. How we know · All sources.