Top 20 Individual Nursery Awards: Frequently asked questions

Each year, daynurseries.co.uk gives out awards to the top 20 top-rated individual nurseries across 12 regions.

The daynurseries.co.uk Top 20 award is a mark of excellence, serving as a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone in your organisation.

The awards highlight that your nursery has been one of the top-rated by parents in the past year and show potential customers that you provide the highest quality of care and support.

Who are the Top 20 Nursery Awards given to?

The Top 20 Nursery Awards are awarded to the 20 top-rated nurseries in each region across the UK. There is no ranking within each of the Top 20 awards.

England is divided into nine regions, while Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are considered their own regions.

• London
• East of England
• East Midlands
• West Midlands
• North East England
• North West England
• South West England
• South East England
• Yorkshire & The Humber 
• Scotland
• Wales
• Northern Ireland

What do I win if I make it into the Top 20?  

Winners will be eligible for the following: 

• Awards winners’ logo displayed on their profile page 
• Awards winners’ logo file for use on their own website or print materials 
• Inclusion in the list of winners published on daynurseries.co.uk 
• A framed certificate 
• PR article in their local press, arranged by the daynurseries.co.uk News team 

How do I enter the awards?

You do not need to enter or apply to be considered for the awards. As your nursery is listed on our website, and if you fulfil the eligibility criteria, you may be in with a chance of winning a Top 20 award in your region.

How do I win an award?

All nurseries listed on daynurseries.co.uk are automatically entered into the awards however, award winners must meet each of the following 3 criteria:

1) Have a review score at the cut-off time of 11:59pm on Monday 31st March 2025 which might place them in the Top 20 in their region.

2) Have 5 published reviews between 1st April 2024 and 31st March 2025.

3) Be compliant with the regulatory authority as per our specified criteria - Click here

How can I tell if my nursery is in the Top 20, leading up to the awards?

The Top 20 rankings are determined by review scores at 11.59 pm on 31st March 2025.  If you'd like to check your rank before then, follow these steps: 

1. Visit the homepage of daynurseries.co.uk. 

2. In the Search function, select “Search all Nurseries” 

3. In the text box, type your Region eg South East England.  Click “Search”. 

4. In the ‘Sort by’ box, select "Highest Review Score" not “Default Sort”* 

5. Count down the list to see where your nursery appears. 

*Important Note: 

“Default Sort” and the ranking information shown in your control panel are not a direct reflection of your position in the Top 20 for the awards, as factors like subscription level can boost your nursery’s position beyond its review score. 

What is the 2025 Awards cut-off date?

The 2025 Top 20 Nursery Awards cut-off date is Monday 31st March 2025.

We announce the winners later, approximately 2 weeks after the cut-off date. You may receive additional reviews during this time, affecting your review score.  However, the awards are based on the review score as of the published cut-off date only.

Awards Cut-off Day Protocol:

Will review cards be processed in time for the cut-off? 

Review cards are generally posted to us via Royal Mail (cards are printed with a pre-paid Freepost 2nd class service). The time it takes from posting a review card to it appearing on our system for processing can vary between postal areas.  We will not accept scans or photocopies of review cards.

All reviews showing in “pre-processing” on the Control Panel Reviews Pending tab, by 5pm on the awards cut-off date will be processed that day. 

Will all reviews be published in time for the cut-off? 

Only published reviews will count towards the review score. 

On the awards cut-off day, we commit to processing all reviews in pre-processing up to 5pm that day. 

Where a review is processed to Pending Publication, it is the responsibility of the care provider to ensure it is published via their Control Panel by 11.59pm that day. If this is not done, the review may not be published for another 7 days (as per our policy) and will not count towards the review score. 

Replies to Reviews

Replies received to reviews with a Pending Publication status will be processed and published alongside the review, if submitted to us before 5pm on the cut-off day.  Replies submitted after 5pm will be processed at the next available opportunity.  

To ensure a review counts towards your score for the awards, we recommend publishing it immediately yourself, without a reply.  Replies can be added up to 6 months from the date a review is submitted. 

Processing Queries

If queries are raised by our moderators when processing reviews on the cut-off day, they will make their best attempts to contact reviewers or care providers (where appropriate) to resolve them. If they cannot reach the reviewer or care provider, they will not be able to process the review further at that stage, however, if the reviewer, or care provider, contacts us by 5pm that day and resolves the query, the review will be processed to Pending Publication.

Reviews we received on the cut off day weren’t processed

We commit to processing reviews we have received up to 5pm on the cut-off day.  Reviews received after that time will not be processed until the next available opportunity.   

How will I find out if I've won an award?

Before winners are announced, the Reviews Quality Assurance team will conduct a series of checks to ensure that the potential winners meet all criteria and that published reviews have been submitted in accordance with our policy. We are not able to confirm a specific date on which winners will be announced as the duration of this process can vary, but we will aim to announce winners within 2 weeks of the cut-off date. 

Winners will be notified by telephone and/or then by email. To ensure the right people in your organisation are notified, please ensure the contact details on your record are correct and up to date.

Where was I placed on the winners' list? 

Winners are displayed in alphabetical order. We do not announce placement results within the Top 20. The current review scores displayed on the website may not reflect the review scores at the time of the awards as scores can change at any time up to, and after the awards cut-off. 

If, after our checks, 2 or more nurseries are tied in 20th position with the exact same review score (to 3 decimal places), all will win an award, resulting in more than 20 regional winners.

Why didn’t I win an award?

When a nursery with a Top 20 review score does not meet any or some of the criteria, it will not be eligible for an award. We will only exclude or remove an award from a nursery for the following reasons:  

• They did not have 5 published reviews within the required published dates. 
• They were not fully compliant with their regulatory authority at the cut-off date. 
• During our post-awards checks, we discovered a breach of our review policy (e.g. we discovered fraudulent activity/reviews not submitted in accordance with our policy, which resulted in these reviews being removed). 

Why didn’t I win an award when I have a higher review score than an award winner? 

Awards are determined by scores at the close of the cut-off date (31st March 2025) and can change at any time following this, as new reviews are published, or older reviews fall outside the score’s timeframe.  While your current score may now be higher than an award winner, at the close of 31st March 2025, your score did not place in the Top 20, and theirs did. 

I won an award.  Why was it revoked?

If a nursery is put into special measures within 12 months of the award cut-off date, the award will be removed from the profile page. 

If, at any future stage, we discover a breach of our review policy that results in the removal of reviews that contributed to an award, the award will be removed.