IT’S sad to admit that my own homeland isn’t fit for purpose, but Britain, as it stands, is not.
I left shortly after my son was born in 2022 partly because it’s such a hostile place for mothers and I – having since lived in Iceland, Mauritius and with Italy planned next – have not looked back.
Annabel Fenwick Elliott lives in Mauritius with her husband Julius and son Jasper[/caption]
The couple have also lived in Iceland (pictured) and say they wouldn’t move back to the UK[/caption]
In Mauritius, where we’ve been stationed for nearly two years, for roughly the same amount I was paying for a studio flat in London, we have a large four-bedroom house on the sea, with a pool, a big garden, a part-time nanny and a cleaner.
The visa was free, my husband Julius, 31, works as a pilot abroad a lot, and I do my job as a journalist remotely.
We have a dog, two cats and three chickens. My son Jasper, two, is living the dream. Life is remarkably simple.
This was far from our reality back in the UK, where I couldn’t even get a visa for my German husband to live with us.
Despite Julius having a British-born baby, being gainfully employed and primed to pay British taxes, he didn’t qualify – such is the tomfoolery of our immigration system.
Simply put, the year we applied my income wasn’t high enough (unsurprisingly given I am freelance and was on maternity leave having just had a baby) and the government doesn’t take into account the foreign applicant’s earnings.
So never mind that Julius was the breadwinner, it was a ‘hard no’ to him living legally in England with his family.
I consulted several lawyers and got the same response from all of them.
In order to qualify, I’d have to go back to the office, leave my six-week old son in the care of a nursery, and put up with his father living in a different country for at least a year so that I could prove I ‘earned enough’ for him to join us.
First of all, I – like many parents – never fancied the idea of strangers raising my infant. And secondly, I wasn’t willing to pay an extortionate sum of money for the privilege.
The UK is, after all, one of the most expensive countries in the world for childcare, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
In many areas of our nation, the monthly cost of having a child in nursery exceeds a family’s mortgage payments.
That is absurd. In Mauritius, our local nursery – which by all accounts is excellent – costs £150 per month for five days a week, 8am-noon.
In London, a part-time nursery place will set you back up to £872 a month.
In April we are moving to Italy, so you can imagine my shock when, upon enquiring how much the charming village nursery there would charge, they informed me it was free, for a full-time place.
I can leave him there as long or as little as I want every day and the only cost is lunch, if I don’t provide it.
Annabel says that UK nursery fees are astronomical compared to Mauritius[/caption]
She is also able to afford a large house with pets for her son[/caption]
ANNABEL’S COST OF LIVING IN MAURITIUS
How Annabel’s new life compares to her UK costs…
The family lives in Poste de Flacq and pays a similar price for a four-bedroom house with a pool as Annabel did for her “tiny” studio flat in London.
The single-room home cost her £1,200 in mortgage and bills – and that was before the cost of living crisis kicked off.
The average cost of sending a child under the age of two to nursery in the UK is £300 a week full-time – an eye-watering £14,030 a year.
For part-time tots in childcare, the average cost is £148.63 a week, or £7,210 a year.
Personally, I won’t be putting our son in nursery for more than four hours a day in Italy, for the same reason we have a part-time nanny here at home in Mauritius to help out so I can work for a portion of the day.
And that’s because I don’t want to miss out on these crucial first years of his life.
It was heartbreaking watching my peers back in the UK having to leave their babies with childminders and turn their attention back to full-time careers most of them weren’t even passionate about, just to afford the household bills.
The UK government likes to blame all sorts of factors for its less-than-ideal circumstances these days
Annabel Fenwick Elliott
This may sound anti-feminist, but I truly life would be better for everyone if families didn’t, as was the case several generations ago, have to rely on dual incomes; and if the women who didn’t have a burning desire to climb the corporate ladder (of which there are plenty) could stay at home guilt-free and raise their children without facing financial hardship.
The UK government likes to blame all sorts of factors for its less-than-ideal circumstances these days, but it doesn’t have to be this way.
I’ve found proof in other countries.
Granted, moving so much hasn’t been easy so we’re certainly planning to settle in Italy, but it’s been worth it.
Of all the British expats I’ve come to know in the past few years, not one regrets leaving Blighty.
The family are planning to move to Italy with their son next[/caption]
Annabel says she doesn’t want to miss out on the early years of her son’s life[/caption]
