--- title: "UK Nursery Report: August 2026 (Original Data) | Nursery Advice" description: "Our August 2026 analysis of 14,487 live UK day nurseries: Ofsted grades by region and council, 122,719 parent reviews, ages served and what a place costs." lang: en-GB json-ld: | [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "WebSite", "name": "Nursery Advice", "url": "https://www.nurseryadvice.co.uk", "description": "Search and compare UK nurseries. Ofsted ratings, fees, opening hours, parent reviews and inspection history — all in one place.", "inLanguage": "en-GB", "potentialAction": { "@type": "SearchAction", "target": { "@type": "EntryPoint", "urlTemplate": "https://www.nurseryadvice.co.uk/search?q={search_term_string}" }, "query-input": "required name=search_term_string" } }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Organization", "name": "Nursery Advice", "url": "https://www.nurseryadvice.co.uk", "description": "Search and compare UK nurseries. 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That excludes childminders, out-of-school clubs and settings regulated in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "What percentage of nurseries are rated Outstanding?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "14.4% of graded day nurseries in England are rated Outstanding (1,790 of 12,403). A further 83.1% are Good, meaning 97.5% are Good or better." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Which area has the most Outstanding nurseries?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Among councils with at least 60 graded settings, Trafford leads with 29.0% of nurseries rated Outstanding, followed by Northumberland (26.2%) and Islington (26.1%). Croydon has the lowest share at 1.9%." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Do parents rate Outstanding nurseries higher than Good ones?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Barely. Outstanding settings average 4.61 out of 5 in parent reviews versus 4.55 for Good — a gap of 0.06 stars. 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[The national picture: 97.5% Good or better](#national-picture) 2. 2. [Ofsted grades by region](#ofsted-by-region) 3. 3. [Council-level: where Outstanding is common — and rare](#council-level) 4. 4. [What parents say vs what Ofsted says](#parents-vs-ofsted) 5. 5. [Ofsted’s new report cards: 7% of the market so far](#new-report-cards) 6. 6. [How current is that grade?](#inspection-recency) 7. 7. [Ages served: who actually takes babies?](#ages-and-access) 8. 8. [What a place costs in 2026](#what-it-costs) 9. 9. [What this means if you are choosing a nursery now](#what-this-means) 10. 10. [Methodology and limitations](#methodology) [Home](/)[Parent Hub](/parent-hub)Choosing childcare Choosing childcare · Original research # The UK Nursery Report: August 2026 A data-led snapshot of the UK day nursery market in August 2026, built from our own database of 14,487 live settings: Ofsted grades by region and local authority, 122,719 parent reviews, ages served, inspection recency and the new Ofsted report cards. Reviewed by the Nursery Advice editorial team Last updated 4 August 2026 Next review 30 November 2026 [Editorial standards](/parent-hub/editorial-standards) How to read this report Every figure below is calculated from the Nursery Advice database as it stood on **4 August 2026**, covering **14,487 open day nurseries registered with Ofsted in England**. Childminders, out-of-school clubs and closed settings are excluded, as are Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (different regulators, non-comparable grading). Fee figures are the only numbers we do not hold ourselves — those come from published Coram and DfE research and are attributed as such. We maintain a live record of every open day nursery in England — grades, inspection dates, ages served, contact details and parent reviews — because that is what powers the search on this site. This report is what that database says about the sector as a whole in **August 2026**: where quality is strongest, where parent opinion and Ofsted disagree, and how much of the market is still waiting for a fresh inspection. The headline is reassuring and slightly misleading at the same time. Almost every inspected nursery in England is rated Good or better — but only around one in seven is Outstanding, and your realistic chance of finding one varies more than five-fold depending on which council area you live in. 14,487 Open day nurseries Ofsted-registered, England 12,403 With a current grade 85.6% of settings 97.5% Good or Outstanding of graded settings 122,719 Parent reviews analysed across 10,757 settings Nursery Advice database, snapshot 4 August 2026. ## The national picture: 97.5% Good or better Of the 14,487 open day nurseries in our database, **12,403 (85.6%) carry a current Ofsted judgement**. The remaining 2,084 are mostly newly registered settings awaiting a first inspection, or providers whose latest report has not yet been published. Current Ofsted judgements across England, August 2026 Judgement Settings Share of graded settings Outstanding 1,790 14.4% Good 10,307 83.1% Requires improvement 212 1.7% Inadequate 62 0.5% Met (childcare register only) 29 0.2% Not met 3 <0.1% Not yet graded 2,084 — What "97.5% Good or better" really means Because so few settings sit below Good, the grade alone does very little to separate one nursery from another. Only **274 settings nationally (2.2% of graded nurseries)** are Requires improvement or Inadequate. Treat the Ofsted grade as a floor check, then use the inspection date, the report narrative and parent reviews to actually choose between two Good nurseries. ## Ofsted grades by region Good-or-better rates are tightly clustered nationally — from 96.7% in London to 98.7% in Yorkshire and The Humber. The **Outstanding** rate is where regions genuinely diverge: the North East produces Outstanding nurseries at nearly three times the rate of the East Midlands. Share of graded nurseries rated Outstanding, by region North East 22.8% East of England 19.3% Yorkshire & Humber 19% West Midlands 15.6% South West 14.7% North West 13.6% South East 13.2% London 11.4% East Midlands 8.3% Nursery Advice database, 12,403 graded settings, 4 August 2026. Share of graded nurseries rated Good or Outstanding, by region Yorkshire & Humber 98.7% East Midlands 98.5% North East 98.3% North West 97.7% South West 97.7% East of England 97.6% South East 97.1% West Midlands 97% London 96.7% Nursery Advice database, 4 August 2026. Regional detail: supply, grades and parent ratings Region Open nurseries Graded Outstanding Good or better Avg parent rating London 2,706 2,194 11.4% 96.7% 4.57 South East 2,491 2,131 13.2% 97.1% 4.61 North West 1,931 1,686 13.6% 97.7% 4.59 East of England 1,466 1,287 19.3% 97.6% 4.60 South West 1,447 1,305 14.7% 97.7% 4.62 West Midlands 1,393 1,178 15.6% 97.0% 4.57 Yorkshire and The Humber 1,319 1,118 19.0% 98.7% 4.53 East Midlands 1,188 1,038 8.3% 98.5% 4.62 North East 543 465 22.8% 98.3% 4.60 Reading regional gaps fairly Inspection outcomes reflect when settings were last visited as much as underlying quality: a region inspected more recently under a tougher framework will look weaker on paper. Regional Outstanding rates are useful context, not a league table of childcare quality. ## Council-level: where Outstanding is common — and rare Zooming into local authorities makes the postcode effect obvious. We only rank councils with **at least 60 graded nurseries**, so small samples can’t distort the table. Highest share of Outstanding nurseries (councils with 60+ graded settings) Trafford 29% Northumberland 26.2% Islington 26.1% Leeds 25.3% Cambridgeshire 24.2% East Sussex 23.5% Shropshire 23% Warwickshire 21.3% Essex 21.2% North Northamptonshire 20.8% Nursery Advice database, 4 August 2026. Lowest share of Outstanding nurseries (councils with 60+ graded settings) Croydon 1.9% Sandwell 4.5% Brent 5.1% Newham 5.3% Lincolnshire 5.5% Salford 5.8% Derbyshire 6.6% Lewisham 7.1% Waltham Forest 7.8% Lambeth 7.9% Nursery Advice database, 4 August 2026. The spread is stark: a parent in **Trafford** chooses from a market where 29.0% of graded nurseries are Outstanding; in **Croydon** the figure is 1.9% — two Outstanding settings out of 106 graded. Crucially, a low Outstanding rate is not the same as poor provision. Lincolnshire has one of the lowest Outstanding shares (5.5%) yet **100% of its 181 graded nurseries are Good or better**, as do Northumberland, Durham, Cornwall, Sheffield, Stockport, Hounslow and East Riding of Yorkshire. Check your own area Every council in this analysis has its own page on Nursery Advice with the full list of settings, grades and parent ratings — for example [browse by region and local authority](/nurseries) to see the current picture where you live. ## What parents say vs what Ofsted says We hold **122,719 parent reviews across 10,757 settings**. Comparing average review scores against Ofsted grades (restricted to settings with at least five reviews) produces the most useful finding in this report: parent ratings move in the same direction as Ofsted, but by a remarkably small margin. Average parent rating by Ofsted grade (settings with 5+ reviews) Ofsted grade Settings Average parent rating Average reviews per setting Outstanding 789 4.61 / 5 16 Good 4,994 4.55 / 5 16 Requires improvement 109 4.41 / 5 20 Inadequate 35 4.65 / 5 19 The gap between an Outstanding and a Good nursery, in parents’ own scoring, is **0.06 of a star**. Even settings judged Requires improvement average 4.41. And the 35 Inadequate settings with enough reviews average 4.65 — higher than Outstanding — though with so few settings that figure should be treated as an anomaly rather than a trend. Don’t choose on star rating alone Public review scores compress at the top: happy parents rate 5, unhappy parents usually leave rather than post. A 4.6 average tells you very little on its own. Read the _content_ of recent reviews, and read the inspection report — the two answer different questions. ## Ofsted’s new report cards: 7% of the market so far Ofsted has moved early years inspection away from a single headline word towards **report cards** that grade several areas separately. In our snapshot, **1,035 settings (7.1% of all open day nurseries)** already have a new-style report on file. Settings with a new-style Ofsted report card, by region South East 238 London 170 North West 115 East of England 112 South West 102 Yorkshire & Humber 100 West Midlands 90 East Midlands 70 North East 37 Nursery Advice database, 1,035 settings with new-format reports, 4 August 2026. For the next couple of years parents will therefore be comparing two incompatible things: a single legacy word ("Good") against a set of area-by-area judgements. Our listings show whichever format applies to that setting, and we explain the areas in plain English in our guide to [Ofsted report cards](/parent-hub/ofsted-report-cards-explained). ## How current is that grade? A grade is only as good as its date. Of the 12,820 settings with a dated inspection on file: Most recent inspection, by year 2026 (to Aug) 6 2025 2329 2024 2608 2023 2666 2022 2537 2021 650 2015–2020 44 Nursery Advice database, 12,820 dated inspections, 4 August 2026. Roughly **a quarter of dated inspections (25%) took place in 2022 or earlier** — before much of the current staffing and funding pressure hit the sector. If a nursery you like was last visited four years ago, ask directly about staff turnover and management changes since then; the grade on the certificate may describe a very different team. ## Ages served: who actually takes babies? Baby rooms are the hardest places to find, because statutory ratios for under-2s (one adult to three children) make them the most expensive to staff. Across England, **51.0% of day nurseries register from birth** — but the North East is far better served than London. Share of nurseries registered to take children from birth North East 63.5% North West 58.1% Yorkshire & Humber 57.2% West Midlands 56.8% East Midlands 53.1% South West 49.6% East of England 48.8% South East 47.9% London 41.3% Share of all open day nurseries in each region. Nursery Advice database, 4 August 2026. In London, fewer than half of nurseries take babies at all — which is precisely where waiting lists bite hardest. If you are pregnant and planning a return to work in London or the South East, register interest well before your baby arrives. ## What a place costs in 2026 We deliberately do not publish fee averages of our own: nurseries price by session, age and add-on, and we will not estimate figures we cannot verify setting by setting. For national costs we use the **Coram Family and Childcare Survey** and DfE statistics[1](#source-1). - A full-time (50 hours) place for a child under 2 averages around **£302 a week** across Great Britain — about £15,700 a year before funding. - Inner London remains the most expensive market at roughly **£446 a week** full-time; the North East the cheapest at around **£256**. - Funded hours, Tax-Free Childcare and the Universal Credit childcare element together cut a typical bill by 40–80%. ### Estimate your own monthly bill [Open full tool](/parent-hub/childcare-cost-calculator) England (outside London) Estimated net cost £3,163/ year £264 / month · £61 / week - Net to you £3,163 - Funded hours £7,980 - Tax-Free Childcare £332 Show the workings Child's age <9m 9m–2y 2y 3y 4y 2 years Days per week 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 Hours per day 4h 6h 8h 9h 10h Include hidden charges (£12/day) Most nurseries charge a daily supplement for food, nappies, sun cream and trips on top of fees and funded hours. The England (outside London) average is around £12 per day your child attends. Toggle off if your nursery doesn't. Term-time only (38 weeks) Otherwise we use 51 weeks of nursery a year. Both parents working Each earning at least minimum wage and under £100k. Unlocks working-parent funded hours & Tax-Free Childcare. Receiving Universal Credit Unlocks the 85% UC childcare element instead of Tax-Free Childcare. For the full regional fee table, worked examples and every funding route, see our [guide to UK nursery fees](/parent-hub/nursery-fees-uk-cost-guide). ## What this means if you are choosing a nursery now 1. **Use the grade as a filter, not a decision.** 97.5% of graded settings are Good or better, so the grade mainly rules out the 2.2% that aren’t. 2. **Check the inspection date first.** About one in four grades predates 2023. 3. **Discount small differences in star ratings.** Outstanding and Good settings differ by 0.06 stars on average — read the reviews, don’t rank them. 4. **Start earlier for a baby place**, especially in London where only 41.3% of nurseries take under-2s. 5. **Expect two report formats** while Ofsted transitions; 7.1% of settings already use the new card. Cite this report Journalists and researchers are welcome to reuse these figures with attribution: _Nursery Advice, “The UK Nursery Report: August 2026”, nurseryadvice.co.uk/parent-hub/uk-nursery-report-august-2026 (snapshot 4 August 2026)._ For a specific cut of the data, [get in touch](/contact). ## Methodology and limitations - **Population.** 14,487 open, Ofsted-registered day nurseries in England, as recorded in the Nursery Advice database on 4 August 2026. Closed settings, childminders, out-of-school provision and non-England regulators (CIW, Care Inspectorate, RQIA) are excluded. - **Sources.** Provider records from DfE Get Information About Schools; inspection outcomes, dates and report content from Ofsted; aggregate parent review counts and scores from Google Places. - **Grade percentages** are calculated over graded settings only (12,403), never over the whole population. - **Council rankings** include only local authorities with 60 or more graded settings, to avoid small-sample distortion. - **Parent-rating comparisons** include only settings with five or more reviews. Public review data is self-selecting and skews positive. - **Ages served** come from the registered age range on the provider record (12,791 settings), which is the range a setting _may_ take, not a guarantee of an available baby room. - **Fee figures** are third-party (Coram, DfE) and clearly labelled as such; we hold no fee data of our own. - **Rounding.** Percentages are rounded to one decimal place, so columns may not sum to exactly 100%. Spotted something that looks wrong? We correct data errors quickly — see our [editorial standards](/parent-hub/editorial-standards) or report an issue from any nursery listing. ## Frequently asked questions How many nurseries are there in the UK? Our August 2026 snapshot covers 14,487 open, Ofsted-registered day nurseries in England. That excludes childminders, out-of-school clubs and settings regulated in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. What percentage of nurseries are rated Outstanding? 14.4% of graded day nurseries in England are rated Outstanding (1,790 of 12,403). A further 83.1% are Good, meaning 97.5% are Good or better. Which area has the most Outstanding nurseries? Among councils with at least 60 graded settings, Trafford leads with 29.0% of nurseries rated Outstanding, followed by Northumberland (26.2%) and Islington (26.1%). Croydon has the lowest share at 1.9%. Do parents rate Outstanding nurseries higher than Good ones? Barely. Outstanding settings average 4.61 out of 5 in parent reviews versus 4.55 for Good — a gap of 0.06 stars. Even Requires improvement settings average 4.41. Public review scores compress at the top, so they should be read alongside the inspection report rather than instead of it. How up to date are Ofsted grades? About 25% of dated inspections in our database took place in 2022 or earlier — roughly one nursery in four. Always check the inspection date on a listing, and ask the setting what has changed since. Can I reuse these statistics? Yes, with attribution to Nursery Advice and a link to this report. Contact us if you need a specific regional or local-authority cut of the data. ## Ready to find a brilliant nursery? Search every Ofsted-registered setting in the UK — by postcode, age group, funded hours and more. [Compare nurseries near you](/search) ## About this guide & sources Every numerical claim in this guide is sourced from UK government, NHS or recognised charity publications. We re-check each source on the article’s review date. 1. Coram Family and Childcare — [Childcare Survey 2025](https://www.coram.org.uk/family-and-childcare-trust/) (retrieved 2026-08-04) 2. Ofsted — [Childcare providers and inspections: official statistics](https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/childcare-providers-and-inspections-official-statistics) (retrieved 2026-08-04) 3. Department for Education — [Get Information About Schools](https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/) (retrieved 2026-08-04) 4. Ofsted — [Early years inspection handbook](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-inspection-handbook-eif) (retrieved 2026-08-04) ## Keep reading [ Choosing childcare ### Choosing a nursery: a parent’s 10-point checklist Visit days are short and emotional. Walk in with this 10-point checklist and you’ll come out with a clear answer — not just a vibe. Built from our review of 28,000+ Ofsted reports. Read guide ](/parent-hub/choosing-a-nursery-checklist)[ Choosing childcare ### Ofsted's new report cards: what's changed and what it means for your nursery Ofsted retired its single-word grades in November 2025. Inspections now produce a colour-coded report card with several evaluation areas scored on a 5-point scale, plus a separate safeguarding judgement. Here's how to read it — and why most nurseries still show the old grade for now. Read guide ](/parent-hub/ofsted-report-cards-explained)[ Funding & money ### Nursery fees in the UK: what childcare actually costs in 2026 A clear breakdown of what a UK nursery place really costs in 2026 — by region, age and session — plus the levers (funded hours, Tax-Free Childcare, Universal Credit) that bring the monthly bill down. Read guide ](/parent-hub/nursery-fees-uk-cost-guide) [![Nursery Advice](/__l5e/assets-v1/1c5557d3-f3fd-42f8-935a-3f2d2c3ac7e7/nursery-advice.webp "Nursery Advice")](/) The independent UK nursery directory. Built with Ofsted data, kept current weekly. 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