Registered childcare providers, England
Official statistics
Childcare providers registered with Ofsted in England at the end of each of its latest reporting periods, in all and on the Early Years Register or the Childcare Registers alone, with the places on the Early Years Register, from Ofsted's childcare providers and inspections statistics.
Registered childcare providers
59,676
31 Mar 2026 · with 1,312,026 places on the Early Years Register
Verified against source, 8 November 2026, 13:15 UTC- Registered childcare providers
- On the Early Years Register
- On the Childcare Registers only
Source: Ofsted. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Data table
4 periods, newest first
| Period | Registered childcare providers | On the Early Years Register | On the Childcare Registers only |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31 Mar 2026 | 59,676 | 46,649 | 13,027 |
| 31 Dec 2025 | 59,629 | 46,599 | 13,030 |
| 31 Aug 2025 | 59,959 | 46,631 | 13,328 |
| 30 Jun 2025 | 60,162 | 46,845 | 13,317 |
Source and licence
- Publisher
- Ofsted
- Check it yourself
- https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/early-years-and-childcare-statistics
- Licence
- Open Government Licence v3.0 – Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Retrieved
- 8 November 2026, 13:06 UTC
- Raw files fetched
- https://www.gov.uk/api/content/government/statistics/childcare-providers-and-inspections-as-at-31-march-2026SHA-256 0b4da5d6c8909adf5a6a9f22654e58b7f9447857825f75114cb971279c96566d · 18,753 bytes
- https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a4e372a09605a87f435457a/Childcare_providers_and_inspections_charts_and_tables_as_at_31_March_2026.odsSHA-256 2b52cef014e90638631cf3de8e92bd49d02053b1ea728d5f5ff1ac19462b0124 · 523,316 bytes
Verification
Verified against source, 8 November 2026, 13:15 UTC Run at 8 November 2026, 13:15 UTC; 12 of 12 figures matched the live source.
| Result | Check | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Pass | Provenance recorded | Ofsted; Open Government Licence v3.0; retrieved 2026-11-08T13:06:35Z; 2 raw file(s) |
| Pass | Raw files match recorded SHA-256 | 2 of 2 files intact |
| Pass | Re-parsing raw files reproduces figures | 12 of 12 figures and the headline reproduced; the meta's eyr_places and movement match |
| Pass | Figures are finite numbers | 12 figures, 0 invalid |
| Pass | Live source matches every figure | 12 of 12 figures match exactly after downloading 2 source file(s) again (2 byte-identical); the headline matches; the meta's eyr_places and movement match |
| Pass | GOV.UK table is current | latest period 2026-03-31 ended 222 days before retrieval (limit 300), from Data, charts and tables: childcare providers and inspections as at 31 March 2026 |
| Pass | T1's England agrees | 4 of 4 cases of England's providers and places at 2026-03-31 in T1 are T3's within 1e-06 (4 exactly) |
| Pass | T1's regions add up to England | 4 of 4 cases of T1's measures for England are its nine regions' and those Ofsted could not place (Not Recorded) within 0.1 (4 exactly) |
| Pass | T4's year ends with T3's providers | 1 of 1 cases of T4's latest year's joiners and providers remaining registered are T3's at 2026-03-31 |
| Pass | Each period starts where the last ended | 12 of 12 cases of the periods' providers and places at the start are those at the end of the period before within 1e-06 (12 exactly) |
| Pass | Source page answers | https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/early-years-and-childcare-statistics – HTTP 200 |
Notes
- Childcare providers on Ofsted's registers at each date: those on the Early Years Register, who care for children from birth to 31 August after their fifth birthday, and those on the Childcare Registers alone, the compulsory and voluntary registers for older children. Places are given for the Early Years Register only (meta), and Ofsted estimates some providers' places from averages, so they are not whole numbers.
- Ofsted's reporting periods are not all the same length. Its joiners and leavers over each year to 31 March (meta, movement) should not be added across periods, Ofsted says.