Educational premises: children's day nurseries

Most children's day nurseries in the UK provide day care services for 38, 50 or 52 weeks of the year, primarily for children from birth to five years. Full day care is defined as facilities that provide day care for children under eight for a continuous period of four hours or more in any day in premises which are not domestic premises.

The information in this section focuses on day nurseries, defined as ‘group providers’, operation of which is governed by the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework, which has been mandatory for all group and school-based early years providers in England since 1 January 2024. The vast majority of day nursery businesses trade for the length of the adult working day, ordinarily between 8am and 6pm Monday to Friday, albeit some do offer early evening, overnight and weekend care. Children's day nurseries in the UK are highly regulated. Separate guidance for early years providers/day nurseries is mandatory for settings in Scotland and Wales.

Factors affecting valuation include the property, the business, financial performance and the market.

This section is maintained by Courteney Donaldson of Christie + Co.

Document template: Children's day nursery valuation checklist

RICS standard: RICS Red Book Global Standards: VPGA 4 Valuation of trade related properties