Fees & Funding
We appreciate that nursery fees and funding can be pretty mind-boggling, and there's a lot of important info to make sense of. We’ll aim to demystify some of this and be as transparent as possible about the costs you can expect when sending your little ones to a Raised In nursery (and how to maximise your funding and tax-free entitlements).
We accept Government Funding alongside Tax Free Childcare for children aged 9 months to 5 years at our Raised In nurseries, as well as welcoming fee-paying families.
Visit the Government’s Childcare Choices website for more info on early years funding and to check your eligibility here.
Bookable Nursery Sessions
Full Day Sessions
8 am–6 pm (10 hours)
Half Day Sessions
8 am–1 pm | 1 pm–6 pm (5 hours)
What funding is available at Raised In nurseries?
While the recent extension of childcare funding for eligible working families is great news, it sadly doesn’t mean everyone can access completely free childcare… This is because funding is designed to cover the basic cost of delivering the Early Years Foundation Stage. It doesn't cover meals, drinks, snacks, trips or any additional educational resources, materials, enrichment programmes and activities.
We recognise that nursery fees can be a large outgoing for families. So that’s why we charge a flat hourly rate for any hours purchased above your funding entitlement, which includes our consumables and enhanced provision contribution to make it more affordable for families to access more hours at our Raised In nurseries.
Government Funded Hours from Eligible Working Families for children 9 months–5 years
Eligible working families can access funding for childcare for children aged 9 months – 5 years at our nurseries. This can be claimed from the term after the child turns 9 months old.
As an all-year-round nursery, we operate for 51 weeks of the year. As we’re open all-year-round, if your child is eligible for 30 hours of funding you’ll be able to access 22 funded hours at Raised In nurseries; and if your child is eligible for 15 hours of funding, you’ll be able to access 11 funded hours at Raised In nurseries.
Under Two (nine months old) Funding for Eligible Working Families: 22 hours per week
Two year old Funding for Eligible Working Families: 22 hours per week
Eligible Two year olds Universal Funding: 11 hours per week**
You’ll need to contact Bristol City Council directly here about these places as they determine the eligibility criteria and then will refer eligible families to us.
Universal Funding for all Three year olds: 11 hours per week
All families are automatically eligible for this funding but to claim this.
Three year olds+ Working Parent Entitlement: 22 hours per week**
**You can claim both entitlements, but only 11 hours of each, totalling 22 hours.
How to access the funding available
To apply for Government Funding, you need to check your eligibility and get a funding code from the government's Childcare Choices website. We recommend doing this ASAP. To claim funding, you’ll need to complete an EYR01 form at the beginning of each term and return this to the Admissions team. We’ll remind you each term to complete your form, but it’s your responsibility to do so.
Visit the Government’s Childcare Choices website for more info and to check your eligibility here.
Our fees for additional hours above funding entitlements:
Babies (9 months - 2 years)
£11.10 per hour
Toddlers (24–36 months)
£9.60 per hour
Preschool (3-5 years)
£8.50 per hour
If you’re not eligible for funding entitlements please scroll down to see our standard fees.
Consumables & Enhanced Provision
We ask for a consumables charge of £1.80 for every funded hour. Funding is not intended to cover the cost of meals, snacks, drinks, activities, external facilitators, trips, events and parties, other consumables, additional hours or additional services, nor does it cover the cost of enhanced ratios or fair pay.
We also ask families to pay 20p per funded hour Enhanced Provision Contribution, taking costs for funded hours to a total of £2 per hour, or a maximum of £44 per week if you’re accessing 22 hours of funding. Nurseries are no longer allowed to factor staffing costs (Raised In is a proud Real Living Wage Employer and employs educators with higher qualification levels and qualified teachers), enhanced ratios or wider business costs such as utilities, internet access, cleaning or business rates into any consumables charges, despite funding not covering these costs in full. This Enhanced Provision Contribution ensures we’ll remain sustainable for our families and our community partners.
The Government and Bristol City Council are encouraging families not to opt out of these voluntary charges. Recent research by the National Day Nurseries Association found that 92% of nurseries in England do not believe the current funding rates cover operating costs. The average funding shortfall nationally per child was reported as £2.13 per hour, with the shortfall in high-cost areas like Bristol being even higher.
These charges ensure we can continue to offer funded hours to all eligible children and remain sustainable. We’ll ask you to confirm your consent to this when you complete your termly EYR01 form, and we’ll be asking for a termly commitment to this to ensure transparency and enable us to plan financially.
Examples of what this looks like in practice can be found below, and see our Admissions Policy for more info.
Example booking patterns and weekly charges
Here’s an example of the weekly charges for a Baby, Toddler or Preschooler accessing 20 hours per week with working family funding*
*We will only claim the number of hours you access at Raised In; therefore, families will have 2 hours to use at another setting should they wish
This is what the breakdown of the weekly costs would look like for a baby (9 months old) accessing 30 hours with 22 hours of funding applied:
This is what the breakdown of the weekly costs would look like for a Preschooler accessing 40 hours a week with 22 hours of funding applied:
This is what the breakdown of the weekly costs would look like for a Preschooler accessing 20 hours per week with 11 hours of Universal Funding applied:
When you can take your funded hours
We’ve tried to be as flexible as possible for families accessing funded hours, and you’re always welcome to purchase additional hours if needed, subject to availability.
Working Family Funding (22 hours per week): Families in receipt of Working Family Funding can access up to 20 hours flexibly, as two full-day sessions, four half-day sessions, or a mixture of both. The remaining two hours must be taken between 11 am-1 pm or 1-3 pm Monday-Friday. If you’re accessing half-day sessions, you can add these two hours to a half-day session to make a longer session of a total of 7 hours (subject to availability). The Admissions Team can discuss your options in more detail, specific to your situation.
If you’re in receipt of working family funding and wish to use 10 hours or less of this at Raised In, you’ll need to access your funded hours on a Monday or Friday, subject to availability.
Eligible Two Year Old and Universal Three Year Old Funding (11 hours per week): FFor children starting from September 2025 in receipt of funding via either the Disadvantaged Two’s or Universal Three and Four year old funding routes (i.e. not eligible for any additional working family funding), we offer funded hours on a Monday or Friday. You can access your funded hours in either two 5 hour half-day sessions (8 am-1 pm or 1 pm-6 pm) or one full day session of 10 hours (8 am-6 pm). Your remaining hour can then be taken between 8 am-9 am or 5 pm-6 pm on a Monday or Friday.
Tax Free Childcare
Many working families will need additional care above and beyond the funded entitlements. Tax Free Childcare effectively gives you a 20% discount on your nursery costs, as the government tops up every £8 you pay in with an additional £2, up to the value of £2,000 per child per year (or £4,000 for disabled children). Most nurseries, including Raised In, accept payment for any fees via your Tax Free Childcare account. Head to the Government website here for a step-by-step guide on how to apply for this here.
What do we mean when we say ‘term’ or ‘terms’?
Funding eligibility is calculated based on terms defined by Bristol City Council. These are the same as school terms. When your child is old enough to get funding, you’ll be able to claim from the term after their birthday in the applicable funding age bracket.
We have provided these terms below:
Autumn Term - September, October, November, December
Spring Term - January, February, March
Summer Term - April, May, June, July, August
For example, if your child turns 9 months old in October, if eligible, you will be able to claim funding from the following January in line with the next term.
Standard Fees
These are our standard fees if you aren’t eligible for any of the government funding entitlements listed above.
Babies (6 – 24 months)
Full Day 8 am-6 pm £111
Half day 8 am–1 pm/ 1 pm–6 pm £55.50
Toddlers (24–36 months)
Full Day 8 am-6 pm £96
Half day 8 am–1 pm/ 1 pm–6 pm £48
Preschool (36 months +)
Full Day 8 am-6 pm £85
Half day 8 am–1 pm/ 1 pm–6 pm £42.50
Please see our Admissions Policy and our FAQs for more info.
Funding
Find out what funding you may be eligible for on the Childcare Choices website.
