Free calculator

Dog daycare price calculator: what should I charge per day?

Put in your own figures and see the day rate that covers them. Built by Duncan, who has priced a licensed daycare in Surrey since 2011. The defaults are a small licensed daycare in 2026; change every one to match yours.

DDuncanPublished 12 October 2026Figures checked
Your day rate£36.46
1

Your dogs

Your average, not your busiest day.

2

Your team

The licence allows 10 at most. Five stars needs 8.

£

National Living Wage is £12.71 from April 2026.

%

National Insurance, pension, holiday cover.

3

Your premises and running costs

£
£

Utilities, van, fuel, software, supplies.

£

Insurance, licence fee, training, accountant.

4

You

£
%

Your day rate

£36.46

per dog per day, to cover everything and make 15% profit. Break-even is £30.99.

Where each day's money goes

Staff 45%Premises and running 19%Your pay 21%Profit 15%
Staff on the floor2
Dog days a year4,000
Turnover a year£145,852
That is £3.96 above the middle UK price of £32.50. In London the middle price is £55.00.
Watch the VAT threshold. That turnover is over £90,000, so you would need to register and add 20%: the customer pays £43.76 a day, or you absorb it.

Nothing you type leaves your browser. See what other daycares charge in the UK dog daycare price index.

How the sum works

The calculator adds up a year of costs and divides by the dog days you sell in that year. Staff are worked out from the dogs on an average day and your ratio, rounded up, because you cannot employ part of a person on the floor.

The default daycare, worked through

16 dogs at one to ten
2 staff
2 × £12.71 × 9 hours × 250 days, plus 15%
£65,774
Rent £1,500 and running £600 a month, plus £3,000 a year
£28,200
Your own pay
£30,000
Divided by 16 dogs × 250 days
£30.99 a day to break even

With 15% profit on top that is £36.46 a day. Change the inputs above for your own answer.

The number that moves the answer most is dogs on an average day, not on your busiest day. A daycare that fills on Wednesday and sits half empty on Monday pays Monday's staff from Wednesday's takings.

Questions owners ask

QHow much should I charge for dog daycare?
Enough to cover staff, premises, running costs and your own pay across the dog days you actually sell, plus a margin. For a small licensed daycare taking 16 dogs a day at one member of staff to ten dogs, paying the 2026 National Living Wage, with £1,500 a month rent and a £30,000 wage for the owner, it comes out at about £31 a day to break even and £36 with 15% profit, before VAT. Put your own figures into the calculator for your answer.
QWhat is the biggest cost in a dog daycare?
Staff. A licensed daycare must have at least one member of staff for every ten dogs on site, and one for every eight to meet the higher standard. Wages do not fall on a quiet day the way stock costs do, so the number of dogs on an average day matters more than the busiest day.
QDo I have to charge VAT on dog daycare?
Once your taxable turnover goes over the VAT registration threshold, £90,000 a year, you must register and charge 20% VAT. Dog daycare has no VAT exemption, unlike registered childcare. Many small daycares price to stay under the threshold.
QShould dog daycare cost the same every day of the week?
Your cost per dog is highest on your quietest day, because the staff and the building cost the same with fewer dogs. Some daycares charge more for single days and less for regular weekly days to fill the quiet ones.

Sources

  1. Dog day care licensing: statutory guidance for local authorities (Defra)Staff ratio: ten dogs or fewer per member of staff at the required standard, eight at the higher standard.
  2. National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates (GOV.UK)£12.71 an hour from 1 April 2026 for workers aged 21 and over.
  3. VAT registration threshold (HMRC)Registration required once taxable turnover goes over £90,000 in a rolling 12 months.
D

Duncan

Founder of Genera and owner of Duncan's Dog Co

Duncan has run Duncan's Dog Co, a licensed dog daycare in Surrey, since 2011. Genera is the software he built to run it, shaped by what actually works day to day, not theory.

More free reference pages

Where Genera comes in

Genera shows each month on one page: bookings, dogs and the busiest and quietest days for every service you run, so you can see which days pay for themselves.

See it for daycaresPricing