Q3 2026 edition · updated 25 July 2026
State of UK Childcare
A quarterly snapshot of the UK early-years sector — provider numbers, inspection grades, regional differences and costs — computed from the official register and anonymous parent-reported fees. Free to cite with attribution.
Key findings
- The UK has 62,905 registered early-years providers: 38,207 nurseries and pre-schools, and 24,698 childminders.
- 99% of rated providers hold a Good or Outstanding grade; 13.4% are Outstanding.
- Quality varies by region: East of England leads with 17.9% of providers rated Outstanding, against 0% in Not Recorded.
Grade distribution
4,664
Outstanding
29,929
Good
0
Requires improvement
214
Inadequate
28,098
unrated
Cite or reuse this report
Suggested citation: “NurseryMatch, State of UK Childcare, Q3 2026 — www.nurserymatch.com/statistics/state-of-uk-childcare”. The underlying dataset (every region and local authority) is downloadable and free to reuse with attribution.
Methodology
Ofsted Early Years register (Open Government Licence v3.0); fees are anonymous parent reports on NurseryMatch.
Fee averages are published only for segments with at least 5 providers that each have 3+ parent fee reports; sample sizes are shown alongside every figure.
Funded place counts are provider-supplied and incomplete — treat as minimums.
Inspection data sourced from Ofsted (England), Care Inspectorate (Scotland), and CIW (Wales), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. NurseryMatch is independent of Ofsted, the Care Inspectorate, CIW, and the UK Government.