Tools

What will your children cost — this year and to 18?

The minimum cost of a child by age, from the Child Poverty Action Group's research, plus your own childcare — with the Child Benefit, funded hours and Tax-Free Childcare you can set against it.

Your children

Age last birthday (0 for a baby). Childcare hours only count for children not yet at school — enter 0 if family covers it.

Household

Where you live

Sets the typical nursery rate below (Coram Childcare Survey 2026). Funded hours follow England's rules.

Childcare £ an hour

Weeks a year

Higher earner's income (a year)

Adjusted net income — roughly pay after pension contributions. Used for the Child Benefit charge (over £60,000) and the £100,000 childcare limit.

Does every parent work at least 16 hours a week?

At National Minimum or Living Wage. This unlocks the 30 working-parent hours and Tax-Free Childcare.

This year, after support

£0

a year

This is information, not advice. Everyday costs are the Child Poverty Action Group's minimum cost of a child (The Cost of a Child in 2025, calculated by Loughborough University's Centre for Research in Social Policy), spread by age using CPAG's 2024 age-by-age table and scaled to the 2025 total. They exclude rent, council tax and school-age childcare, and are in today's money with no inflation added. Child Benefit is the 2026/27 rate (£27.05 / £17.90 a week) and assumes 16- and 17-year-olds stay in education. Funded hours follow England's rules; Tax-Free Childcare assumes you are not on Universal Credit — compare the two in our childcare support calculator or read the full guide and sources. Nothing you type leaves this page.

Read the full guide, with every figure dated and sourced →