The cost of having a baby in the UK: what you actually pay

This is the money going out, not the money coming in

Our UK financial help guide covers what you can claim: the Sure Start Maternity Grant, Healthy Start, Child Benefit and Universal Credit. This page is the other side of the ledger. It is about what having a baby costs you out of pocket in the UK, which parts of that the NHS absorbs, and which parts land on your own card. The two pages are meant to be read together, because the gap between them is your actual budget.

There is no bill for the birth

The single biggest number in this topic in other countries simply does not exist in the UK. NHS maternity care is free at the point of use for people who are ordinarily resident here. Antenatal appointments, scans, screening, the labour ward, an epidural, an emergency caesarean, a stay on the postnatal ward, the newborn checks and community midwife visits after you go home are all provided without a charge to you.

That is a real and unusual thing, and it is worth understanding the limit on it. Ordinarily resident is a legal test about where you normally live, not about nationality or about paying tax. People who do not meet it can be charged for NHS maternity care, although care is never withheld or delayed on the basis of the ability to pay. If your immigration status is anything other than straightforward, check your position with the hospital's overseas visitors team early rather than at 36 weeks.

The exemption certificate is worth real money

While you are pregnant and for 12 months after your baby is born you can get free NHS prescriptions and free NHS dental treatment, through a maternity exemption certificate, known as a MatEx. The NHS Business Services Authority administers it.

You do not get it automatically. Your midwife, GP or health visitor completes an FW8 application form with you and submits it, and the certificate is posted out. Get this done at your booking appointment. People routinely lose several months of free prescriptions because nobody prompted them and they did not know to ask.

The value is largest in England, where there is a prescription charge per item. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland NHS prescriptions carry no charge for anyone, so the certificate matters mainly for dental treatment there. NHS dental treatment is not trivially priced anywhere in the UK, and pregnancy is a period when dental problems commonly surface, so the dental half of the exemption is often the more valuable half.

What the certificate does not do

It does not cover private dentistry, cosmetic treatment, over-the-counter medicines, or prescriptions dispensed after it expires. Check the expiry date on the certificate itself; it runs from the estimated date of delivery, not from the actual birth, which means an overdue baby shortens the tail slightly.

Where the money actually goes

With the birth itself free, UK costs fall into three groups.

The one-off kit

A car seat is the only genuinely non-negotiable purchase, because the hospital will not discharge you into a car without one. After that the list is a spectrum rather than a requirement: a pram or travel system, a cot or Moses basket and a mattress, a changing setup, a sterile feeding kit if you are formula feeding, and clothes. New parents consistently overestimate what must be bought new. A mattress should be new. Almost nothing else has to be.

The recurring costs

Nappies and wipes are the constant. Formula, if you use it, is the single largest recurring cost in the first year and is priced far above the cost of the ingredients. If you are breastfeeding, budget instead for pump hire or purchase, breast pads and possibly a lactation consultant, which is a private cost in most of the UK.

The one people forget

The largest cost of having a baby in the UK is usually not a purchase at all. It is the gap between your normal earnings and Statutory Maternity Pay. SMP runs for up to 39 weeks: 90% of your average weekly earnings for the first six weeks, then £194.32 a week or 90% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower, for the next 33 weeks in the 2026 to 2027 tax year. If you take the full 52 weeks of leave, the last 13 weeks are unpaid entirely. Model that shortfall month by month before the baby arrives, because it is the number that determines whether the year is comfortable or frightening.

Travel, parking and the small bleed

The costs nobody budgets for are the ones attached to attending. A typical UK pregnancy involves around ten antenatal appointments for a first baby, plus scans, plus any additional monitoring. Hospital car parking, public transport, and unpaid time off for appointments add up quietly across nine months. Employees are entitled to reasonable paid time off for antenatal care, so check with your employer before taking annual leave for appointments. Some trusts also offer help with travel costs for people on qualifying benefits through the NHS Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme.

Free things that people pay for anyway

Antenatal classes are offered free by most NHS trusts, though places and quality vary and private courses are widely marketed alongside them. Breastfeeding support is available free through NHS infant feeding teams and volunteer helplines. Health visitor appointments are free. Before paying for any of these, check what your trust and local authority already provide.

What to do, and in what order

Ask for the FW8 maternity exemption form at your booking appointment and chase the certificate if it does not arrive. Buy or borrow a car seat that fits your car and get it checked. Work out your SMP figure and the month your income drops, and again the month it stops. Check what your NHS trust provides free before buying any antenatal course. And treat everything else on the standard baby list as optional until the baby is here and you know what you actually need.