State of UK buy-and-build, Autumn 2026 · Childcare / Day Nurseries

UK childcare / day nurseries consolidation: Autumn 2026

UK deals by buy-and-build platforms in childcare / day nurseries since January 2022, as filed at Companies House

Buy-and-build platforms have made at least 89 UK deals in childcare / day nurseries since January 2022, as filed at Companies House, by 22 different platforms, 10 of them buying in the last twelve months.

Deals per year

UK deals as filed at Companies House Still filling in: less than a year of filings behind it

Source: ExitRadar analysis of Companies House filings. Free to reuse with attribution to ExitRadar.

Deals in the twelve months to 25 October 2026

Platforms buying in the last twelve months

14.4%

Companies at £250k–£5m EBITDA already part of a group

£223k

Typical EBITDA going in (median)

Independent companies in our top band for exit readiness today

Who owns the trade

493 active UK childcare / day nurseries companies have £250k–£5m of EBITDA. 14.4% of them are already part of a group; the rest, owned by individuals, are the pool buy-and-build platforms buy from.

Part of a group 14.4%Owned through a personal holding company 19.3%Owned directly by individuals 66.3%

Source: ExitRadar analysis of Companies House filings. Free to reuse with attribution to ExitRadar.

Platforms buying in the trade

Among the platforms that bought in the last two years, named from a public source, alphabetically: Happy Days Nurseries.

See the companies behind these numbers

Build a buy box for Childcare / Day Nurseries and see how many independent UK companies fit it today.

Build a buy box

How we count

A deal is a change of control filed on the register of people with significant control, from a company's individual owners to a buy-and-build platform; two companies bought on one day count once. Asset purchases and deals outside the UK are missed, so every count is a floor. Full method and the cross-sector report.

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