Nursery fees: Do you stand to save any money in the future?
Is your child(ren) due to start ‘big school’ this year or next? It’s a bittersweet milestone for many – and for all kinds of reasons.
On the one hand, your little one is taking the next, important step towards independence. On the other, they’re branching out, making new friends and becoming their own person away from the comforting cocoon of home.
Many parents head into this time with trepidation, while also relishing the fact that they may save serious money once nursery bills are no more.
We recently undertook some research, which revealed that a staggering 46% of people said they wish they’d saved more money. The research didn’t solely feature the opinions of parents, but it did get us thinking about the expenses associated with bringing up kids – and how caregivers everywhere could stand to benefit once their children are in school.
Following the survey, we asked a selection of parents – some with children who are already in school and others whose little ones are in nursery – what they did (or plan to do) with any spare money. Read on…
“We spend little more than £50 a month on nursery fees”
A part-time nursery place for a child under two now costs an average of £158 per week in Great Britain, up 7% on 2023, reveals this 2024 childcare survey via Coram Family and Childcare.
Laura*, who lives in Yorkshire, is glad that her nursery bill isn’t anywhere close to that figure. For now, at least. She enrolled her son into nursery a few months before his second birthday and says it’s been good for him.
“I feel very fortunate that we only need to send our little boy to nursery a couple of mornings per week – and that’s for his sake (to give him a change of scenery) rather than ours, as such.” she says.
“As he’s only in nursery a small chunk of the week, we spend little more than £50 a month on fees (only £600 per year), as the government funding covers the majority of it.
“However, me and my husband have recently been talking about upping our little boy’s hours at nursery. If that happens, the bill could add up to much more – and it’s likely we will save a fair bit, in that case, once he eventually goes to school. When the time comes, we’ll open a savings account, as I’ve spoken to others I know who wished they’d done the same and now regret it.”
“I wish we’d thought of putting it in a savings account.”
Alongside Frankie Totora, his longtime pal and business associate, Steve Folland co-hosts ‘Doing it for the Kids’ – a podcast which focuses on the realities of working for yourself and parenting.
He says he wishes he’d had the foresight to put the money he’d saved on nursery fees in a savings account.
“In reality, though, it’s just been spent elsewhere.” he tells us. “Not least those first years of school where it’s a different kid’s birthday party every week.”
“If you really want to save money, instead of horse riding, encourage your kid to take up darts.” he jokes, adding: “it would have been great to put some of it at least, into their ‘post-school’ fund, university or whatever comes next.
“There’s definitely something in the habit of saving money you were used to not having. Like when I stopped having an office, I put the same amount of rent into a ‘pot’ in my bank account. It’s amazing how it adds up.” he says.
“We’d like to increase our monthly payments into our daughter’s savings account”
Currently, Alan, who runs a Leeds-based digital agency and has a two-year-old daughter, pays around £600 a month in nursery fees.
It’s worth noting, though, that from September 2025, ‘children of working parents aged nine months to three years will be entitled to 30 hours a week funded childcare for 38 weeks a year’. That’s according to the aforementioned Coram Family and Childcare Survey.
“We’re currently paying around £600 per month on nursery fees, although we do consider ourselves fairly lucky as we’ve had lots of help with childcare from grandparents, which reduces our nursery bill.
“Once we don’t have these costs, we would like to increase our monthly payments into our daughter’s savings account and also revive our holiday savings account, which we have not been able to pay into since nursery fees and general cost of living increases.”
Mike, who co-runs the agency with Alan, also has a nursery-age daughter. He says: “Once our daughter is in full-time education and we’re no longer paying our monthly nursery fees, my partner is planning on increasing her hours at work again and will start to think about moving into a new home.
“We can use the additional income to start to save and put it towards a new mortgage,” he adds.
“Hindsight is a very good thing, isn’t it?”
Suzannah, from Lancaster, has four boys who have been in primary and secondary school for some time now.
She says: “We didn’t really spend a lot on nursery fees, as my boys were only ever there a couple of mornings per week. That said, we did spend something – I think it was about £100 a month. Even if we’d only put a monthly amount of, say, £20-30 aside once they went to school, we’d have a fair bit put to one side now. Hindsight is a very good thing, isn’t it?!”
Are you amongst those who stand to save some money when your child goes to nursery? If so – and you’re thinking of opening a savings account to watch it mount up – view our range of financial products**.
Until next time…
*Some names have been changed
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