See what happens to cash when occupancy builds slowly, while salaries and fixed costs start immediately. A monthly model for the first three years.
All amounts and occupancy figures are examples. The model treats an occupied place as a full-month equivalent at your blended monthly income. Funded and private hours will normally require a more detailed cash model.
A flat monthly payroll is a simplifying assumption. A real nursery needs stepped recruitment linked to ratios, room opening, qualifications and management cover. This illustration assumes revenue and cash receipts occur in the same month, which will often be wrong for funded hours.
| Month | Occupancy | Monthly income | Monthly costs | Net movement | Closing cash |
|---|
Lower opening occupancy, delay your recruitment ramp, test higher works and rent costs, and separately model the timing of local authority funding payments. This illustration excludes tax, loan payments, bad debt, exceptional repairs, inflation and changes in funded-rate mixes.
Discuss your launch modelUsing the numbers
Use the figures as a starting point for a real business decision, with your own assumptions and evidence.
01 / How to use the calculator
02 / Worked example
Illustration: A new nursery with £20,000 monthly receipts, £25,000 payroll and £8,000 other monthly operating costs is spending £13,000 more than it receives each month, before other cash movements. At that unchanged rate, three months create a £39,000 cash gap, on top of initial fit-out and set-up costs.
Actual nursery cash flow is rarely flat. The monthly model lets you vary occupancy and costs as the setting develops.
03 / Interpreting the result
Reaching a positive trading month does not necessarily mean the business has recovered its opening losses. Review the lowest projected cash balance, the timing of funded income, deposits and parental fees, and the extra contingency needed if opening is delayed.
This is a planning model. Property, planning, safeguarding, Ofsted registration and lender requirements must be assessed separately.
Content reviewed 29 October 2026. Recheck rates, funding rules and your assumptions before making a decision.
Questions owners ask
Not necessarily. Break-even measures trading performance. Earlier losses, capital spending and the timing of payments can still leave a funding gap.
Use a researched local demand estimate and test a slower scenario. Do not assume a full nursery at opening without evidence.
Yes. Recruitment, training, rent, fit-out and other pre-opening spending can use significant cash before trading begins.