The Bevan Foundation’s Head of Policy (Poverty), Steffan Evans takes a look at some new data on childcare costs across GB
Ensuring access to good quality, affordable, childcare is vital if any progress is to be made in reducing child poverty in Wales. Over recent weeks there has been some welcome progress in terms of making this a reality. The announcement that an extra £30m will be allocated towards childcare costs in Welsh Government’s final budget was welcomed by the Bevan Foundation. This extra funding should ensure that the money is in place to allow the Welsh Government to deliver on its pledge to roll out the childcare element of Flying Start to all 2 year olds.
New data published this week, however, highlights just how much more work needs to be undertaken to ensure that Wales’ childcare system tackles rather than exacerbate poverty and inequality. Indeed, the latest data points to a growing childcare premium that is faced by Welsh parents when compared to their counterparts in England and Scotland.
Do Welsh parents spend more on childcare?
For a number of years Coram Family and Childcare have undertaken a childcare survey looking at the cost, availability and perceived quality of childcare across England, Scotland and Wales. The survey has become the authoritative data source on childcare costs across GB. It’s recently published 2025 survey report make for stark reading for those based in Wales.
Coram’s data shows that average childcare costs for a child aged 2 and under are significantly higher in Wales than in England and Scotland. A parent of a child aged under 2 in Wales is, on average, spending around £2,600 a year more to send their child to nursery on a full-time basis than a parent in England, this rises to almost £4,400 for parents who send their child to nursery on a part time basis. Parents of a child aged under 2 in Wales spend, on average, around £1,700 a year more to send their child to nursery on a full time and part time basis than a parent in Scotland. Similar differences can be seen when looking at children aged 2.
Whilst childcare costs in Scotland have historically been lower than childcare costs in Wales, this is the first year that nursery costs have appeared higher in England than in Wales. At the time of the 2024 survey parents in England were actually spending between £1,000 and £2,000 a year more to send a child under 2 to nursery (depending on the number of hours they attended) than a parent in Wales.
Why are English childcare costs now lower?
Childcare costs in England have reduced significantly since the 2024 survey. On average, a parent of a child aged 2 and under is now spending around 22% less on childcare if their child attends nursery on a full-time basis and around 56% less if their child attends nursery on a part time basis. By contrast the average cost of childcare for children aged 2 and under in Wales has increased by between 7 and 9% depending on the exact age of the child and whether they attend nursery on a full or part time basis (similar increases have been reported in Scotland).
The reason for this reduction is simple. Since April 2024, parents of children aged 9 months to 2 years old in England have been entitled to 15 hours a week of funded childcare for 38 weeks a year if they and their partner (if they have one) earn at least the equivalent of 16 hours a week at the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage and their earnings don’t exceed £100,000 a year. In Wales, whilst around 60% of children aged 2 are expected to be able to access 12.5 hours a week of funded childcare through Flying Start from this month onwards, the support available is far less generous, with no support at all on offer for children aged under 2.
This gap is set to open further by the time of Coram’s next survey results. From September 2025 parents in England will be entitled to 30 hours of funded childcare a week. In Wales, it appears unlikely that the full rollout of 12.5 hours funded childcare to all two year olds through Flying Start will even be complete at that point.
What are the lessons for policy makers in Wales?
The reforms introduced in England are no panacea. There are concerns that emerge through Coram’s work about whether there are enough childcare spaces to enable all children to access childcare, whilst the focus on supporting parents that are in work does mean that children from families who are not in work may miss out on the benefits of childcare and early learning.
Given some of the weakness of the English model, there are good reasons for the Welsh Government to take a different approach to childcare in Wales. The fact that the UK Government’s policy in England has been so successful in reducing average childcare costs does demonstrate however, that it is possible for government to take action to meaningfully make the cost of childcare more affordable for parents and to do so relatively swiftly. With the childcare premium faced by Welsh parents set to increase further over the coming months, it seems inevitable that the Welsh Government will come under greater and greater pressure to deliver swift reforms itself.