Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Madsen Pirie
“British parents hand over more than a third of a dual income household’s net earnings on childcare. That’s the highest burden in the OECD. The reflex is to call for more public money. But the international evidence points the other way. The problem isn’t spending. It’s regulation. At the heart of Britain’s high costs sits the child-to-staff ratio. For children under four, the average is 1:4.5, among the tightest in the developed world. Norway and France manage 1:9. Portugal and Luxembourg are similarly relaxed. None of them show the collapse in quality that stricter ratios are supposed to prevent. What they show instead is markedly lower cost to families.” (09/18/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/britains-childcare-problem-is-regulation-not-money