– By Flo Marks
The lack of affordable childcare options – especially in the inner London area where costs are 30% higher than the national average and 50% higher than the lowest-cost regions – is forcing parents to make career adjustments. Having children is coming at the high expense of derailing careers due to childcare prices often equating to the same as weekly wages. This is unjust and should not be happening in 2021.
MEA Consulting’s Founder and CEO, Anju Solanki, spoke on this subject to the BBC a month ago where she called on the government to listen to the petition calling for a full review of childcare costs and current policies. Today we continue the conversation with Jack Clarke – Marketing Director of LEGO in Denmark – he talks about differing social norms, childcare policies and impacts of such in Denmark. The lessons we could take from these are numerous. Let’s take note, and continue the discussion.
Here are some highlights from the Interview:
- In the UK, the lack of affordable childcare options – especially in the inner London area where costs are 30% higher than the national average and 50% higher than the lowest-cost regions – is derailing the careers of parents, especially mothers. Whereas, a huge motivator for Jack moving to Denmark was the cheaper and more affordable childcare options which wouldn’t lead to forced career adjustments for himself or his wife.
- In Denmark childcare is HUGELY subsidised!!! Jack pays roughly £400 a month for the child (0-2years) and £200 a month for a kid (3-6years old) with free infant school starting when a child is 6.5years old (avg). However, on top of these subsidised costs, he also gets roughly £200 a month in childcare benefits which increases the less you earn. All these subsidies and benefits make it hard to compare to the UK but it is certainly considerably less than paying another mortgage as those in London do…
- Jack speaks of the differing social norms between the UK and Denmark – with the latter understanding and offering more practical solutions to allow for the dual role of both parents in their children’s lives, and also in general a greater emphasis on the importance of family life in the Danish work culture. He also speaks of the importance of the UK to dedicate more time and policy to parental leave – with his favoured option being completely equal paternity leave. This would signal the equal role, and mean women of childbearing age face less discrimination in hiring processes.
- He also speaks about Denmark’s childcare provision being very similar and homogenous. It is all high quality with a ratio of 1:3 of adults to children aged 0-3 and 1:6 for those aged 4-6. Not only does this have financial benefits for the parents but it also makes the fundamental human right of being free to choose to work a reality, whilst also giving children of all backgrounds an equal footing when starting their path in life. Royalty goes to the same pre-school as children from the lowest socio-economic background.
- Finally, he believes that if the UK government adopted a model more like Denmark investing more in children aged 0-6 years old, they would save plenty of money in the long run.. It would give more children a good base to succeed in life – with research confirming it would lower youth crime rates, dropping out of education, homelessness… Also, adopting policies more like Denmark would empower and lead to more child-bearing age mothers going back into work benefitting the country and the economy.
Watch to learn more!
*To clarify, that when Jack speaks, these are his views, not necessarily the views of LEGO.
*And, there are some private childcare options in Denmark – BUT they are still highly subsidised and regulated so really not any different to the state offering…
* And, Jack pays roughly £400 a month for a child (0-2years) and £200 a month for a kid (3-6years old) with free infant school starting when a child is 6.5years old (avg). However, on top of these subsidised costs, he also gets roughly £200 a month in childcare benefits which increases the less you earn. All these subsidies and benefits make it hard to compare exactly/directly to the UK but it is certainly considerably less than paying another mortgage as those in London do…