When Linda Eriksson tells her family and friends about the childcare costs she will face paying once she returns to work after having had her first baby, their jaws drop in baffled disbelief.
Ms Eriksson, who lives in Farnham, Surrey, with partner Sean and their five-month-old baby son Wren, is originally from Sweden, but has been living in the UK for 13 years and it is now her home.
However, due to the stark differences in childcare costs between the UK and Sweden, people constantly ask her why she isn’t tempted to move back.
When Ms Eriksson returns to work when Wren turns one, a full-time nursery place will cost her £1,400 a month. In comparison, if she was still living in Sweden, she would only pay a maximum of around £118 for his childcare.
On top of this, if Ms Eriksson had more children in the future, in Sweden the most she would pay for childcare would equate to around £297 a month, regardless of how many children she had.
She says the reality of childcare costs in the UK and the fact that she delayed having a baby until later than she would have liked means that she will probably not end up having another child.
Ms Eriksson, 36, who is a technical analyst for Sky, told i: “I am happy living in the UK and it is now my home.
“But I know I would be a lot better off in society in Sweden and by choosing to stay here and not uproot and leave my friends and work, I am aware I am making a sacrifice and choosing a harder lifestyle.
“My family in Sweden are shocked when I mention the sums people pay in childcare in the UK and ask: ‘That’s an entire month’s salary for a lot of people – how can that be just the cost of childcare? How are you supposed to work?’”
Ms Eriksson explains to i that in Sweden, children usually start preschool between the ages of one and three and they don’t start school until they turn seven.
The costs for preschool are heavily subsidised by the Swedish government and for the first child, it costs three per cent of the household income, but with a maximum of 1,645 Skr per month – which equates to £118.96 a month.
A second child’s preschool in Sweden costs 2 per cent of the household income, but at a maximum of 1,097 Skr – around £79.33 a month.
A third child in Sweden costs one per cent of the household income in childcare at a maximum of 548 Skr – about £39.63. If a family in Sweden has a fourth child or more, preschool is free.
Ms Eriksson says this means that regardless of how many children parents in Sweden have, they know their total preschool costs a month will never exceed the equivalent of £237.92 a month.
“A lot of Swedish people who live in the UK when they’re young end up moving back when they plan to start a family because they know it is so much more affordable and you are supported so much better both through pregnancy and when you have your child,” she said.
“People have asked me: ‘Why are you still here?’ when they hear how much better the childcare system is in Sweden.
“It is so much more progressive in Scandinavian countries for equality because women can afford to go back to work after having a baby so they don’t miss out on their career progression or pensions.
“Women in Sweden have that choice, while women in the UK often don’t because the childcare costs are as much as they earn.”
Ms Eriksson, says that unlike in the UK, where maternity pay is dependent on the company you are employed by, otherwise you are reliant on statutory maternity pay – which is currently £172.48 a week in the UK – parents in Sweden are supported a lot better by the government.
“For parental leave, parents get 480 days of parental pay which can be split between the parents,” she explained. “Of these, 390 days – one-and-a-half years – are equal to 80 per cent of your salary, but at a maximum of £80 a day.
“This means £320 a week compared to £172 in the UK which you only get for 33 weeks. The remaining 90 days of parental leave in Sweden, you get £13 a day.
“You also don’t have to take all 390 days in one go and can save a certain amount of parental days and use them later on up until the child is 12-years-old.”
“Sweden also has ‘care of child days’ where parents have the right to take time off work to care for their sick children and the government pays 80 per cent of their salary for those days, up to 120 days per year.”
Ms Eriksson says that while taxes in Sweden are higher overall, people get a lot more for them and families are better supported with not just childcare, but things like free meals in schools and free university.
“I delayed having a baby until now at the age of 36 because I know how expensive childcare in the UK is,” she said. “I always thought I’d have children when I was 30, but in reality, I knew at that age that I couldn’t afford to have kids and provide the sort of lifestyle I wanted for them.
“I also wanted to make sure I could buy a house before having kids because I knew that once you have a baby, everything is so expensive that you won’t be able to save for a house.”
She added: “We are very fortunate because my partner’s mum is going to look after our baby when I return to work and look after him two days a week, so we only have to pay for nursery three days a week. But this is still going to cost us £900 a month.
“Because I waited until I was older to have children, I was able to build my career to a point where I can afford to pay for childcare. But so many women in the UK cannot afford to return to work.”
Ms Eriksson believes the UK has a lot to learn from countries such as Sweden when it comes to supporting parents and she says that in general, Scandinavian countries have more socialist views and look after people in a whole different way.
“The UK needs to learn from countries like Sweden and realise that a country is nothing without people, so you need to value them more,” she said.
“We are lacking people in the NHS and all kinds of occupations, especially since closing the borders to foreign workers.
“I cannot get over the stupidity that we have a country in the UK where we lack workers and people complain about things like mothers being on benefits.
“But the solution to both of these of affordable childcare is not properly considered.”
Anna Whitehouse, founder of Mother Pukka, a platform “for people who happen to be parents” and campaigns for flexible working with her campaign Flex Appeal, agrees that the UK lags far behind other countries when it comes to childcare and supporting parents.
“I came to the UK from Amsterdam in 2014 and couldn’t understand how everyone was making it work,” she told i. “Then I realised they weren’t. It wasn’t me that was broken, it was the system.
“Holland and Sweden and other equality-centred countries understand that family is at the top of the tree. There is an understanding that having a child isn’t just a recreational side hustle.
“Childcare in the UK needs to be seen as infrastructure, in the same way as roads and railways.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Our roll-out of the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever will mean that the UK has the one of the most generous childcare entitlement offers for working parents, by international standards.
“We will be expanding 30 free hours of childcare for working parents down to nine months old over the next two years, which will save eligible working parents up to an average of £6,500 per year.
“By 2027 to 28, we expect to be spending £8bn in total every year to support parents with flexible and affordable childcare and give children the best quality early years education.”