School-based nurseries
DFE · DFE_0496_2526-Q1
Department page: Department for Education
| Data as at | Rating | End date | Whole-life cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 2026 | Amber (the department's own assessment) | 28 September 2029 | £369.85m (in 2024/25 prices) |
Each year’s cost is shown with its price basis. Costs are not compared between years: the March 2024 and March 2025 reports state no price basis, and from March 2026 costs are in 2024/25 prices.
The department’s commentary
This is the department’s own commentary. It may use different prices from the table above, so its figures may not match.
March 2026
Rating: The programme’s Confidence Assessment is Amber. The programme has made strong progress this year, with the successful launch of Phase 1 with it's £37m of funding, delivering over two thirds of it's 300 projects and being on track for all Phase 1 projects to have delivered by March 2027 as planned. Phase 2 has also successfully completed announcement, assessment, moderation and launch ahead of the Easter holidays, with £45m awarded to 331 schools. Phase 3 guidance has been published and early feedback has been mostly positive, with strong Local Authority engagement through recent webinars. The pace and scale of delivery remains challenging, and we will continue to deliver against a backdrop of uncertainty on the number and scale of Phase 3 projects until late in 2026.
Schedule: The programme's end date is 28/09/2029. This is primarily due to the following factors, the programme comprises multiple delivery phases through a mix of delivery models, with projects able to open until September 2029.
Cost: Whole life costs have been developed based on committed spending thus far through agreement at spending review.
Names, figures, dates, ratings and commentary are as the department reported them. Where a rating, cost or date is withheld, the file’s wording is shown. Every major project →