Reporting year 2025

Childcare and early years provider survey

Data guidance

Published 11 December 2025

Description

These tables are derived from data collected on the 2025 Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers (SCEYP).  Where data for 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and / or 2024 are shown alongside 2025 data, these have been taken from the respective years' surveys.  There was no SCEYP in 2020.

Fieldwork for the 2025 SCEYP was carried out between May and July 2025.

Three different types of childcare provider are covered by the survey:

Childminders: Ofsted-registered childminders providing early years childcare and operating on domestic settings.  The sample of childminders was drawn from Ofsted's Early Years Register.  Childminders registered with a childminder agency were not included in the survey.

School-based childcare providers. The sample of school-based childcare providers was drawn from the School Census.  The two types of school-based provider covered by the survey are:

• Maintained nursery schools: These are purpose-built maintained schools specifically for children in their early years and with a qualified teacher present.
• Nursery class childcare settings: These are other maintained schools, and non-maintained schools, offering nursery provision.

Group-based providers These are other childcare providers (such as playgroups and day nurseries) operating on non-domestic premises.  The sample of group-based childcare providers was drawn from Ofsted's Early Years Register. The two main types of group-based providers covered by the survey are:

• Private group-based providers: These are private companies and include employer-run childcare for employees.
• Voluntary group-based providers: These are voluntary organisations, including community groups, charities, churches, or religious groups.

There are a smaller number of “other group-based providers” (run by, for instance, colleges, local authorities, “private not-for-profit” organisations etc.)  

A full description of SCEYP methodology, and the different providers covered, is provided in the Technical Report available in the  methodology section and available for download from the “supporting files” section of the release.

In addition to the tables shown here, further tables are available.  In some cases, these provide a more detailed breakdown of the data published in this report.  In other cases, they cover additional topics to those covered by the report.  These tables can be found in the “supporting files” section of this release.

Coverage

All figures refer to England

File formats and conventions

Figures that are based on an “unweighted base” (i.e. sample size) of less than 10 are not shown in the files.

Data files

All data files associated with this releases are listed below with guidance on their content. To download any of these files, please visit our data catalogue.

Headline stats

• Filename: sceyp25_headline_stats.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2025
• Content:
  The total number of childcare providers, registered places and paid staff. Mean parent-paid fees charged by providers for children aged under 2, children aged 2 and children aged 3 and 4.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
2_fees	Mean hourly parent-paid fee charged by providers for children aged 2
3-4_fees	Mean hourly parent-paid fee charged by providers for preschool children aged 3 and 4
total_providers	Total estimated number of childcare providers in England with at least one child aged 0-4 registered with them
total_registered_places	Total estimated number of registered childcare places in England
total_workforce	Total estimated number of paid childcare staff
under2_fees	Mean hourly parent-paid fee charged by providers for children aged under 2

Section 0 - Weighting methodology comparison

• Filename: sceyp25_GBP_2024_methodology_comparison.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2024
• Content:
  Table comparing key stats on group-based providers from 2024, to show the impact of changing the survey weighting methodology to account for provider size

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
average_registered_places	Mean registered places per provider
booked_places	Number of booked full-day places
mean_staff	Mean paid staff per provider
methodology	Weighting methodology
paid_staff	Number of paid childcare staff
provider_type	Provider type
registered_places	Number of registered places

Section 0 - Imputing missing data

• Filename: sceyp25_imputing_missing_places_2024_data_comparison.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2024
• Content:
  Table showing registered and booked places by provider type from 2024, to show the impact of imputing missing data. All data in this table were calculated under the new weighting methodology introduced in 2025.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
average_registered_places	Mean registered places per provider
booked_places	Number of booked full-day places
missing_data_imputed	Whether missing data imputed
provider_type	Provider type
registered_places	Number of registered places

Section 1 - Number of providers

• Filename: sceyp25_number_of_providers.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2018 to 2025
• Content:
  A time series of the number of providers, broken down by provider type

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
number	Number of providers
provider_type	Provider type

Footnotes

1. All figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. They may not add up to totals due to rounding.
2. 2025 figures include 143 school-based providers who were "open, but proposed to close" at the time that the survey sample was drawn.  In previous years, such schools were excluded from "total provider" figures.  They were included in 2025 as checking confirmed that although these schools "proposed to close" they were set to re-open as "academy" schools.

Section 1 - Number of providers by region

• Filename: sceyp25_number_of_providers_by_region.csv
• Geographic levels: Regional
• Time period: 2025
• Content:
  A breakdown of the number of providers by region and provider type.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
number	Number of providers
proportion	Proportion of providers
provider_type	Provider type
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. All figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. They may not add up to totals due to rounding.

Section 1 - Number of providers by deprivation band_rev

• Filename: sceyp25_number_of_providers_by_deprivation_rev.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2025
• Content:
  A breakdown of the number of providers by the level of deprivation in the area that the provider is located in and provider type.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
dep_level	Deprivation level
number	Number of providers
proportion	Proportion of providers
provider_type	Provider type
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. All figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. They may not add up to totals due to rounding.

Section 1 - Providers in a chain

• Filename: sceyp25_providers_in_a_chain.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2023 to 2025
• Content:
  The proportion of group-based providers that are part of a chain of providers.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
percentage	Percentage of providers
provider_type	Provider type
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Section 2 - Booked full-day places

• Filename: sceyp25_number_of_booked_full_day_places.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2019 to 2025
• Content:
  A time series of the number of booked full-day places, broken down by provider type.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
number	Number of bookings
provider_type	Provider and session type
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. All figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. They may not add up to totals due to rounding.
2. In 2024 and 2025 figures, where providers report that they "don't know" the number of booked full-day places that they have they have been assumed, for the purpose of estimating regional and England totals, to have the median number of booked places for providers of their type. See the "Methodology change" section for a description of the impact that "imputing" missing data in this way has
3. The method used to weight group-based provider responses to the Survey changed in 2025.  Figures for 2024 have been revised so that they can be compared with 2025 figures.  The biggest impact of this change is on "volume" measures (such as the total and mean number of registered and booked group-based provider places and total and mean number of group-based provider staff).  See the "Methodology change" section for further details.
4. Estimates of the number of booked full-day school-based provider places in 2023 are not shown. Although this information was collected on the Survey the estimate is considered unreliable.

Section 2 - Number of registered places

• Filename: sceyp25_number_of_registered_places.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2018 to 2025
• Content:
  A time series of the number of registered places, broken down by provider type.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
number	Number of places
provider_type	Provider type
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. All figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. They may not add up to totals due to rounding.
2. In 2024 and 2025 figures, where providers report that they "don't know" the number of registered places that they have they have been assumed, for the purpose of estimating regional and England totals, and mean registered places per provider, to have the median number of registered places for providers of their type. See the "Methodology change" section for a description of the impact that "imputing" missing data in this way has.
3. The method used to weight group-based provider responses to the Survey changed in 2025.  Figures for 2024 have been revised so that they can be compared with 2025 figures.  The biggest impact of this change is on "volume" measures (such as the total and mean number of registered and booked group-based provider places and total and mean number of group-based provider staff).  See the "Methodology change" section for further details.
4. The number of registered childminder places in 2023 is not directly comparable with figures for other years as that year's survey asked childminders for their total number of registered places - not, as in other years, for their number of registered places for children under the age of 8.
5. Figures refer to registered nursery places - registered places in before-school and after-school childcare are excluded.

Section 2 - Proportion of registered places by age

• Filename: sceyp25_proportion_registered_places_by_age.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2025
• Content:
  A time series of children registered with childcare providers, with proportions broken down by age and provider type.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
age_group	Age group
percent	Proportion of children
provider_type	Provider type
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 1 per cent and may not add to exactly 100 per cent due to rounding

Section 2 - Number of registered places by region

• Filename: sceyp25_number_of_registered_places_by_region.csv
• Geographic levels: Regional
• Time period: 2025
• Content:
  The number of registered places, broken down by region and provider type.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
number	Number of places
percent	Proportion of places
provider_type	Provider type

Footnotes

1. All figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. They may not add up to totals due to rounding.
2. In 2024 and 2025 figures, where providers report that they "don't know" the number of registered places that they have they have been assumed, for the purpose of estimating regional and England totals, and mean registered places per provider, to have the median number of registered places for providers of their type. See the "Methodology change" section for a description of the impact that "imputing" missing data in this way has.
3. The method used to weight group-based provider responses to the Survey changed in 2025.  Figures for 2024 have been revised so that they can be compared with 2025 figures.  The biggest impact of this change is on "volume" measures (such as the total and mean number of registered and booked group-based provider places and total and mean number of group-based provider staff).  See the "Methodology change" section for further details.
4. The number of registered childminder places in 2023 is not directly comparable with figures for other years as that year's survey asked childminders for their total number of registered places - not, as in other years, for their number of registered places for children under the age of 8.
5. Figures refer to registered nursery places - registered places in before-school and after-school childcare are excluded.

Section 2 - Number of registered places per provider

• Filename: sceyp25_number_of_registered_places_per_provider.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2018 to 2025
• Content:
  A time series of the number of registered places per provider, broken down by provider type.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
average_places	Mean number of places
provider_type	Provider type
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. In 2024 and 2025 figures, where providers report that they "don't know" the number of registered places that they have they have been assumed, for the purpose of estimating regional and England totals, and mean registered places per provider, to have the median number of registered places for providers of their type. See the "Methodology change" section for a description of the impact that "imputing" missing data in this way has.
2. The method used to weight group-based provider responses to the Survey changed in 2025.  Figures for 2024 have been revised so that they can be compared with 2025 figures.  The biggest impact of this change is on "volume" measures (such as the total and mean number of registered and booked group-based provider places and total and mean number of group-based provider staff).  See the "Methodology change" section for further details.
3. The number of registered childminder places in 2023 is not directly comparable with figures for other years as that year's survey asked childminders for their total number of registered places - not, as in other years, for their number of registered places for children under the age of 8.
4. Figures refer to registered nursery places - registered places in before-school and after-school childcare are excluded.

Section 2 - Spare places

• Filename: sceyp25_surplus_places.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2025
• Content:
  Proportion of spare places at childcare providers

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
percent_places	Percentage of places that are surplus
percent_providers	Percentage of providers with one or more surplus place
provider_type	Provider and session type

Footnotes

1. Refers to providers who ran full-day care on the reference day.

Section 3 - Number of staff

• Filename: sceyp25_number_of_paid_childcare_staff.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2018 to 2025
• Content:
  A time series of the number of paid provider staff, broken down by provider type. Temporary staff are included but volunteer staff and apprentices are excluded.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
number_staff	Number of staff
provider_type	Provider type
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. All figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. They may not add up to totals due to rounding.
2. Includes temporary staff but excludes volunteer staff and apprentices. Staff that do not work directly with children, such as administrative staff, are also excluded.
3. The method used to weight group-based provider responses to the Survey changed in 2025.  Figures for 2024 have been revised so that they can be compared with 2025 figures.  The biggest impact of this change is on "volume" measures (such as the total and mean number of registered and booked group-based provider places and total and mean number of group-based provider staff).  See the "Methodology change" section for further details.

Section 3 - Mean staff per provider

• Filename: sceyp25_mean_staff_per_provider.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2018 to 2025
• Content:
  A time series of the mean number of paid staff per provider, broken down by provider type. Temporary staff are included but volunteer staff and apprentices are excluded.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
mean_staff	Number of staff
provider_type	Provider type
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. Includes temporary staff but excludes volunteer staff and apprentices. Staff that do not work directly with children, such as administrative staff, are also excluded.
2. The method used to weight group-based provider responses to the Survey changed in 2025.  Figures for 2024 have been revised so that they can be compared with 2025 figures.  The biggest impact of this change is on "volume" measures (such as the total and mean number of registered and booked group-based provider places and total and mean number of group-based provider staff).  See the "Methodology change" section for further details.
3. Mean figures for 2022 onwards are shown to 1 decimal place.  Mean figures for 2018, 2019 and 2021 are only available rounded to the nearest whole member of staff.

Section 3 - Temporary, voluntary and apprentice staff

• Filename: sceyp25_volunteer_temp_apprentice_staff.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2021 to 2025
• Content:
  A time series of the proportion of providers that employ temporary staff, volunteer staff, and apprentices, and the number of each staff type that they employ.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
number_apprentices	Number of apprentices
number_temp_staff	Number of temporary staff
number_vol_staff	Number of voluntary staff
percent_employing_app	Percentage of providers employing apprentices
percent_employing_temp	Percentage of providers employing temporary staff
percent_employing_vol	Percentage of providers employing voluntary staff
provider_type	Provider type
unweighted_base_app	Unweighted base apprentices
unweighted_base_temp	Unweighted base temporary staff
unweighted_base_vol	Unweighted base voluntary staff

Footnotes

1. All figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. They may not add up to totals due to rounding.
2. In the 2025 Survey, this question was changed so that, in common with other questions on the survey, it asked providers how many temporary staff working directly with children (as opposed to ancillary staff such as administrators) they employed.  As a result, figures in this table cannot be directly compared with those from previous Surveys.
3. "Apprentices" only refers to apprentices who work directly with children.
4. "Volunteers" excludes apprentices.  It only refers to volunteers who work directly with children.
5. The method used to weight group-based provider responses to the Survey changed in 2025.  Figures for 2024 have been revised so that they can be compared with 2025 figures.  The biggest impact of this change is on "volume" measures (such as the total and mean number of registered and booked group-based provider places and total and mean number of group-based provider staff).  See the "Methodology change" section for further details.

Section 3 - Childminders employing an assistant

• Filename: sceyp25_childminders_employing_an_assistant.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2022 to 2025
• Content:
  A time series of the proportion of childminders employing an assistant.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
percent_assistant	Percentage employing an assistant
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Section 3 - Proportion of staff qualified to different levels

• Filename: sceyp25_proportion_of_staff_qualified_to_different_levels.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2018 to 2025
• Content:
  A time series of the proportion of paid staff qualified to different levels. Temporary staff are included but volunteer staff and apprentices are excluded.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
percent	Proportion of staff qualified to this level
provider_type	Provider type
qual_level	Highest level of qualification

Footnotes

1. School-based provider data for 2023 are unavailable due to an error in the way that school-based providers were asked about the qualification levels of their staff on the 2023 Survey

Section 3 - Staff turnover

• Filename: sceyp25_staff_turnover.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2025
• Content:
  A time series of staff turnover rates, broken down by provider type. Staff turnover rates are the number of staff who left employment during the period expressed as a percentage of the total number of staff employed at the start of the period.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
provider_type	Provider type
staff_turnover	Staff turnover
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. Staff turnover rates are the number of paid staff who left employment during the period expressed as a percentage of the total number of paid staff employed at the start of the period.  Staff leaving includes temporary staff employed directly by the provider but excludes agency staff, staff who do not work directly with children and anyone going on extended leave, such as maternity leave.

Section 3 - Staff by age

• Filename: sceyp25_staff_by_age.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2024 to 2025
• Content:
  A breakdown of childcare staff by age and provider type.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
age_group	Age group
percentage	Percentage of staff
provider_type	Provider type
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. Includes temporary staff but excludes volunteer staff and apprentices. Staff that do not work directly with children, such as administrative staff, are also excluded.

Section 4 - Staff to child ratios for under 2s

• Filename: sceyp25_staff_to_child_ratios_under2s_v2.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2021 to 2025
• Content:
  A time series of the ratio of staff to children aged under 2 in group-based providers.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
percentage	Percentage of providers
provider_type	Provider type
ratio	Staff : child ratio
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. A ratio of less than 1:3 is more generous than the statutory minimum as there are fewer children per member of staff

Section 4 - Staff to child ratios for 2 year olds

• Filename: sceyp25_staff_to_child_ratios_2YOs.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2022 to 2025
• Content:
  A time series of the ratio of staff to children aged 2 in group-based providers.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
percentage	Percentage of providers
provider_type	Provider type
ratio	Staff : child ratio
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. A ratio of less than 1:5 is more generous than the statutory minimum as there are fewer children per member of staff

Section 4 - Staff to child ratios for 3 and 4 year olds

• Filename: sceyp25_staff_to_child_ratios_3to4YOs.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2021 to 2025
• Content:
  A time series of the ratio of staff to children aged 3 and 4 in group-based and school-based providers.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
percentage	Percentage of providers
provider_type	Provider type
ratio	Staff : child ratio
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Section 5 - Breakdown of total provider costs

• Filename: sceyp25_breakdown_of_total_provider_costs.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2025
• Content:
  A breakdown of childcare providers' total costs into different categories

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
business_rates	Business rates
energy	Energy bills
food	Food costs
materials	Materials such as books, toys or equipment
other	Other costs
provider_type	Provider type
recruiting_staff	Recruiting staff
rent_mortage	Rent or mortgage payments
staff	Staffing costs
training	Training costs

Footnotes

1. "Nursery class childcare settings" often deliver classes to school-age children alongside their nursery provision. For these providers, it is difficult to identify how much of the providers' overhead costs - such as energy bills and business rates - are accounted for by nursery classes and how much are accounted for by other parts of the school. Therefore, unlike group-based providers, who were asked to report them separately, school-based providers were asked to estimate these costs and include them in "other costs".
2. Childminder costs are not directly comparable with group-based provider and school-based provider costs. Childminders are not asked about their rent / mortgage or energy bills, because they work from their own home and would have to pay at least some of these costs, even if they didn't run a childminding business, and are not asked about business rates because they don't have to pay them. Childminder "staffing costs" are the sum of the amount that they pay their assistant(s) (if they have one) and the amount that they pay themselves in the form of a salary. In 2025, the question asking childminders about their personal income from childminding was changed, to clarify that this is money that they take from their business in the form of a salary (as opposed to fee income received by the business).  This may explain why "staffing costs" make up a lower proportion of childminder costs in 2025 (70 per cent) than in 2024 (77 per cent).

Section 5 - Percentage of staff earning below the National Living Wage by provider type

• Filename: sceyp25_staff_earning_below_nlw.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2025
• Content:
  The proportion of staff paid below the National Living Wage, broken down by provider type.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
percentage	Percentage earning below NLW
provider_type	Provider type
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. Excludes volunteer staff, apprentices and staff that do not work directly with children, such as administrative staff.  Refers to the percentage of eligible staff i.e. those aged 21 or above paid below the National Living Wage (£12.21 per hour from 1 April 2025)
2. Where staff salaries are reported annually, hourly equivalent wages are calculated by dividing annual salaries by contracted hours per week and weeks per year.  Where contracted weeks per year are unknown they are assumed to be the same as the number of weeks per year that the provider is open (in 2024, staff whose contracted weeks per year were unknown were assumed to work 52 weeks per year - this assumption produced slightly higher estimates of the proportion of staff paid below the National Living Wage).

Section 6 - 15 hour entitlement under 2 year olds

• Filename: sceyp25_15_hour_entitlement_under_2yos.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2025
• Content:
  The proportion of registered under 2-year-olds funded through the 15-hour entitlement. See Section 6 of the release for more details of the different entitlements.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
percentage	Percentage of children
provider_type	Provider type
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. [u] Statistics based on an "unweighted base" (sample size) of less than 10 are not shown. Statistics based on an "unweighted base" of 10 or greater but less than 30 should be treated with caution and are only indicative.
2. Excludes providers that do not look after any under 2-year-old children.

Section 6 - 15 hour entitlement 2 year olds

• Filename: sceyp25_15_hour_entitlement_2yos.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2025
• Content:
  The proportion of registered 2-year-olds funded through the 15-hour working parent entitlement and the FRAS entitlement. See Section 6 of the release for more details of the different entitlements.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
entitlement_type	Entitlement type
percentage	Percentage of children
provider_type	Provider type
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. Excludes providers that do not look after any 2-year-old children.

Section 6 - 15 hour entitlement 3 and 4 year olds

• Filename: sceyp25_15_hour_entitlement_3_and_4yos.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2025
• Content:
  The proportion of registered 3- to 4-year-olds funded through the 15-hour entitlement. See Section 6 of the release for more details of the different entitlements.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
percentage	Percentage of children
provider_type	Provider type
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. Excludes providers that do not look after any 3- or 4-year-old children.
2. Although providers were asked to report children only receiving the 15-hour entitlement for 3- to 4-year-olds (and to report children receiving the 30-hour entitlement separately), figures in this table are slightly higher than those in the Funded Early Education and Childcare statistics, suggesting that some providers may have double-counted children receiving the 30-hour entitlement.

Section 6 - 30 hour entitlement 3 and 4 year olds

• Filename: sceyp25_30_hour_entitlement_3_and_4yos.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2025
• Content:
  The proportion of registered 3- to 4-year-olds funded through the 30-hour entitlement. See Section 6 of the release for more details of the different entitlements.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
percentage	Percentage of children
provider_type	Provider type
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. Excludes providers that do not look after any 3- or 4-year-old children.

Section 6 - Proportion of providers where parents can use funded entitlements throughout the year

• Filename: sceyp25_parents_use_funded_hours_throughout_year.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2025
• Content:
  The proportion of providers that provide entitlements throughout the year. See Section 6 of the release for more details of the different entitlements.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
entitlement_type	Entitlement type
provider_type	Provider type
term_time_only	Parents can use funded hours during school term-time only
throughout_year	Parents can use funded hours throughout the year
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. [u] Statistics based on an "unweighted base" (sample size) of less than 10 are not shown. Statistics based on an "unweighted base" of 10 or greater but less than 30 should be treated with caution and are only indicative.
2. As a proportion of providers offering the respective entitlement.

Section 6 - Proportion of providers where parents can use funded entitlements throughout the day

• Filename: sceyp25_parents_use_funded_hours_throughout_day.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2025
• Content:
  The proportion of providers that provide entitlements without any restrictions. See Section 6 of the release for more details of the different entitlements.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
entitlement_type	Entitlement type
no_restrictions	Percentage of providers with no funding restrictions
provider_type	Provider type
restricted	Percentage of providers that restrict funding in some way
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. [u] Statistics based on an "unweighted base" (sample size) of less than 10 are not shown. Statistics based on an "unweighted base" of 10 or greater but less than 30 should be treated with caution and are only indicative.
2. As a proportion of providers offering the respective entitlement.

Section 6 - Parents using tax-free childcare

• Filename: sceyp25_parents_paying_using_TFC.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2025
• Content:
  The proportion and average number of children with parents paying fees using Tax-Free Childcare, broken down by provider type.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
number	Mean number of parents paying using TFC
percentage	Proportion of parents paying using TFC
provider_type	Provider type
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. This table shows the number of children whose parents use Tax-Free Childcare to pay for childcare as a proportion of the total number of children registered with providers.  Figures cannot be compared with those published in previous years which showed this number as a proportion of the total number of registered childcare places that providers had.

Section 7 - Proportion of children with SEND

• Filename: sceyp25_proportion_of_children_with_SEND.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2024 to 2025
• Content:
  A time series of the proportion of children registered with providers with SEND, broken down by provider type.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
percentage	Percentage of children with SEND
provider_type	Provider type
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. This table shows the number of children with SEND as a proportion of the total number of children registered with providers.  Figures cannot be compared with those published in previous years which showed this number as a proportion of the total number of registered childcare places that providers had.
2. Prior to 2025, school-based providers were asked "how many children in your nursery have SEND".  Some, however, appeared to have been including children registered in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 (rather than just children attending nursery provision) in their figures. Therefore, in the 2025 survey, the wording of this question was changed, to ask school-based providers how many under school-aged children registered with their nursery provision had SEND.  This may explain why a smaller proportion of children registered with school-based providers have SEND in 2025 than in 2024

Section 7 - Providers caring for children with SEND

• Filename: sceyp25_providers_caring_for_SEND_children.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2018 to 2025
• Content:
  A time series of the proportion of providers caring for at least one child with SEND, broken down by provider type.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
percentage	Percentage of providers
provider_type	Provider type
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. Prior to 2025, school-based providers were asked "how many children in your nursery have SEND".  Some, however, appeared to have been including children registered in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 (rather than just children attending nursery provision) in their figures. Therefore, in the 2025 survey, the wording of this question was changed, to ask school-based providers how many under school-aged children registered with their nursery provision had SEND.  This may explain why a smaller proportion of children registered with school-based providers have SEND in 2025 than in 2024

Section 8 - Parent paid fees by provider type

• Filename: sceyp25_mean_and_median_fee_by_provider_type.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2018 to 2025
• Content:
  A time series of mean and median hourly fees charged by childcare providers to parents, broken down by child age and provider type.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
child_age	Child age
mean_hourly_fee	Mean hourly fee
median_hourly_fee	Median hourly fee
provider_type	Provider type
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. [u] Statistics based on an "unweighted base" (sample size) of less than 10 are not shown. Statistics based on an "unweighted base" of 10 or greater but less than 30 should be treated with caution and are only indicative.

Section 8 - Fees by child age and region

• Filename: sceyp25_mean_and_median_fee_by_child_age_and_region.csv
• Geographic levels: Regional
• Time period: 2024 to 2025
• Content:
  A time series of mean and median hourly fees charged by childcare providers to parents broken down by age, region and provider type.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
age_group	Age group
mean_hourly_fee	Mean hourly fee
median_hourly_fee	Median hourly fee
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Section 8 - Proportion of providers increasing fees

• Filename: sceyp25_proportion_of_providers_increasing_fees.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2019 to 2025
• Content:
  A time series of the proportion of providers who reported increasing fees charged to parents in the previous 12 months, broken down by child age and provider type. Caution: Sample sizes are small for under 2-year-olds at school-based providers.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
age_group	Age group
percent_increase_fee	Percentage of providers increasing fees
provider_type	Provider type

Section 9 - Difference between provider fee and funding rate by region

• Filename: sceyp25_difference_between_mean_fee_and_funding_rate_by_region_2025.csv
• Geographic levels: Regional
• Time period: 2025
• Content:
  A time series of the difference between mean hourly fees charged by childcare providers to parents and hourly funding rates paid by the government to childcare providers, broken down by region and provider type.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
age_group	Age group
difference	Difference between mean funding rate and mean fee
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. Values are less than zero where average funding rates are higher than average fees and greater than zero where average fees are higher than average funding rates.
2. Two-year-old figures refer to the "working parent" funding rate which is, on average, 3p per hour lower than the "FRAS" funding rate

Section 8 - Mean and median fee by LA

• Filename: sceyp25_mean_and_median_fee_by_LA.csv
• Geographic levels: Local authority
• Time period: 2024 to 2025
• Content:
  Mean and median parent-paid hourly fees broken down by child age and local authority. In order to help interpret the mean, the table shows 95% confidence intervals.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
child_age	Age of child
lower_ci	Lower 95% CI
mean_hourly_fee	Mean hourly fee
median_hourly_fee	Median hourly fee
unweighted_base	Unweighted base
upper_ci	Upper 95% CI

Footnotes

1. [u] Statistics based on an "unweighted base" (sample size) of less than 10 are not shown. Statistics based on an "unweighted base" of 10 or greater but less than 30 should be treated with caution and are only indicative.

Section 9 - Mean and median funding rate by provider type

• Filename: sceyp25_mean_and_median_funding_rate_by_provider_type.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2022 to 2025
• Content:
  A time series of the mean and median hourly funding rates paid by the government to childcare providers, broken down by child age and provider type.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
child_age	Child age
mean_hourly_rate	Mean hourly funding rate
median_hourly_rate	Median hourly funding rate
provider_type	Provider type
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. Figures for 2022 and 2023 refer to the Families Receiving Additional Support (FRAS) funded entitlement.  In 2024, providers were asked to report a single figure for the average funding rate received for both the FRAS and new "working parent" funded entitlements.  In 2025, providers were asked for separate figures for the different two-year-old entitlements.  This table shows the average "working parent" entitlement funding rate.  Across all provider types, this funding rate was, on average, 3p per hour lower than the "FRAS" funding rate.

Section 9 - Mean and median funding rate by region

• Filename: sceyp25_mean_and_median_funding_rate_by_region.csv
• Geographic levels: Regional
• Time period: 2022 to 2025
• Content:
  A time series of the mean and median hourly funding rates paid by the government to childcare providers, broken down by child age, region and provider type.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
age_group	Age group
mean_hourly_rate	Mean hourly funding rate
median_hourly_rate	Median hourly funding rate
unweighted_base	Unweighted base

Footnotes

1. Two-year-old figures refer to the "working parent" funding rate which is, on average, 3p per hour lower than the "FRAS" funding rate