Online antenatal classes in the UK: what the NHS and NCT offer, and where couples’ support fits

What antenatal classes are, according to the NHS

The NHS website for England describes antenatal classes as usually informal, fun and sociable, a place to meet other parents-to-be. They usually start 8 to 10 weeks before the baby is born and happen once a week for about 2 hours. You can choose classes that are just for pregnant women or classes that welcome a partner or a friend, and some are for single mothers or teenagers (NHS, 2025).

According to the NHS, they cover a range of labour and birth topics: diet, exercise, what to expect in labour, relaxation, delivery methods and interventions, how to look after your newborn and your own health after the birth, and emotional wellbeing during and after pregnancy (NHS, 2025).

The NHS website for England says its antenatal classes are free, and suggests asking your midwife, health visitor or GP for details (NHS, 2025).

Online options: free and paid

The NHS notes that lots of antenatal courses and workshops are also available online (NHS, 2025). The pages we read come from nhs.uk, which is the NHS website for England (NHS, 2026), from NCT and from NICE, whose guidelines are for England and Wales (NICE, 2026), and the NCT page speaks of NHS Trusts. Services may be organised differently in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, so ask your midwife what is available where you live. From those pages:

• NHS antenatal classes: free, and the NHS says to ask your midwife, health visitor or GP for details. Its page does not say whether they are held in person or online, so ask what is offered near you (NHS, 2025).
• The free NHS–NCT online course, Preparation for Birth and Beyond: a 6-hour interactive course on Zoom, held between 28 and 36 weeks of pregnancy, delivered by NCT practitioners in partnership with local NHS Trusts. When we read the page, it named one Trust, the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, so it is not available everywhere (NCT, 2026).
• The online NCT Antenatal course: five live, interactive online sessions covering labour, birth, feeding and life with a newborn, listed from £199 for up to two attendees, with discounts for low-income households (NCT, 2026). Check the current price on NCT’s page.
• Free online classes on the Babycentre website, which the NHS suggests if you cannot find a suitable class near you (NHS, 2025). We have not reviewed them.

What NICE says classes should include

NICE guidelines are recommendations for health and care in England and Wales (NICE, 2026). NICE’s antenatal care guideline recommends offering first-time mothers, and their partners, antenatal classes that include preparing for labour and birth, supporting each other during pregnancy and after the birth, common events in labour and birth, caring for the baby, bonding and emotional attachment, and planning feeding. It also asks professionals to tell a woman that she is welcome to bring a partner to classes, and to consider timing them so that the partner can attend, if she wishes (NICE, 2021).

So emotional topics are part of what classes are meant to cover. The pages we read list topics, but none of them says how much time goes to fear of birth, to your partner’s role or to your own questions. Ask the organiser before you book. NCT’s free course, for example, follows a standardised slide set whose content and course plan the Trust approves, with practical activities and small group discussions meant to help parents share their feelings (NCT, 2026); NCT says its leaders on the paid online course will take the time to answer all your questions (NCT, 2026).

Where couples’ emotional support fits

Amélie Paterne, who is not a midwife, offers the Méthode Souffle: emotional and relational support for couples becoming parents, in English or in French, by video call wherever you live (or in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France). A session lasts 1 hour 30 minutes and costs €80 for the couple; a first 30-minute conversation by telephone is free. It is not an NHS or NCT class and not medical care: it complements the classes you attend and your appointments with health professionals and does not replace them, and it promises nothing about how your birth will go.

The sources above show that classes can already cover feelings and supporting each other. A session for two is a complement centred on your couple: a class is held for a group, whereas a session for two is held for one couple and spent on what the two of you feel, what you want from the birth and how to support each other. You can do both: classes, with their programme and the other parents you meet, and a session for the two of you. Our articles on the birth partner’s role and on writing a birth plan together show what that can look like.

How to choose a class: five questions

Whoever runs it, a few questions help you compare:

• Is it live, with a group you can ask questions in, or recorded to watch in your own time?
• When does it run in relation to your due date? The NHS says antenatal classes usually start 8 to 10 weeks before the birth (NHS, 2025); the free NHS–NCT course runs between 28 and 36 weeks (NCT, 2026).
• Is your partner welcome, and does the timing suit them (NICE, 2021)?
• What does it cost, and is a free place available through your Trust?
• Who runs it (an NHS Trust, NCT or another organiser), and who leads the sessions?

When worry is more than ordinary nerves

The NHS lists signing up for antenatal classes among the things that can help your mental health in pregnancy, as a place to get information, gain confidence and meet people in a similar situation. It also advises talking about your feelings with a friend, family member, midwife or doctor, being honest with your midwife or GP about how you really feel, and speaking to your maternity unit or GP if you are worried about your mental health (NHS, 2026).

The same NHS page has a “Get urgent help” box for anyone having a mental health crisis or emergency (NHS, 2026). In England, call 999 or go to A&E now if someone’s life is at risk or you do not feel you can keep yourself or someone else safe, and for urgent help with your mental health call 111 and choose the mental health option; for the rest of the United Kingdom, call 999 or go to A&E now in the same cases. Samaritans, 116 123, is free and open any time (Samaritans, 2026). The numbers come from the NHS page on where to get urgent help (NHS, 2023).

If the fear of giving birth is very strong, our article on tokophobia explains the signs and who to talk to, and the one on fear of childbirth offers ways to tame it. For the wider picture of preparing for the birth, see our guide to preparing for childbirth in France; its details on insurance cover do not apply in the UK.

Questions about online antenatal classes

A few short answers, sourced in the article.

Further reading

• Preparing for childbirth: methods, when to start and what is covered in France
• Fear of childbirth: where it comes from and how to ease it
• Tokophobia: when the fear of childbirth takes over
• The birth partner’s role during labour: preparing together
• Birth plan for two: what it is for, what to put in it, how to discuss it with your team