kinplaceWhere your family goes next
Start free
New to this? Read:Funded childcare hours, and Tax-Free Childcare, explainedAll guides

Childcare costs in Preston

93 nurseries and pre-schools registered with Ofsted in Preston, Lancashire. We hold a published fee we can stand behind for 16 of them; for the other 77 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 £5.30 to £9.60 an hour (the middle is £6.97); a full day at a day nursery from £60.00 to £74.00.

Read from the nurseries' own fee pages, most recently on 19 October 2026.

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

Funded hours, by age

i

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 (16)

i

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 (77)

i
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

i

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 Preston, ranked by what Ofsted found, and private school fees.

Add this to your plan

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.