The cost of providing daycare has risen considerably in the last year, with every region in Finland affected. That's according to a new report from the Association of Finnish Cities and Municipalities.
In 2022-23, the growth was 15.2 percent on average. The biggest relative increases have been seen in North Ostrobothnia, Central Finland and Pirkanmaa, as well as the larger cities, commuter towns and bilingual municipalities.
The report's author, Jarkko Lahtinen, says the increase is exceptional. Municipalities' other expenses have not risen at the same rate.
The highest cost for a single child in daycare in 2023 was for municipalities with fewer than 2,000 residents. In those towns, the average cost per child was 15,805 euros. The increase since 2022 was largest in municipalities with between 2,000 and 5,000 residents, where the average cost rose from 12,458 euros to 15,354 euros (23.2 percent).
Nationwide, the average cost per child rose from 12,437 euros to 14,304 euros.
Lahtinen says there are multiple reasons for the increase. The root cause is a change in legislation that increased staffing at daycare centres, while also reducing parental contributions towards the cost.
The true cost of the changes have been a surprise to municipalities.
"The legislative changes now look more expensive than in the government's cost estimate," said Lahtinen. "Municipalities' own costs are larger than predicted."
"Municipalities' finances can't cope with rises this steep," he said.
The early years education law reform in 2022 strengthened the child's right to support, which forced daycare centres to hire more staff.
In 2023 the law changed so that just over half of all families now pay nothing at all for early years education.
That has also affected parents' behaviour. Lahtinen says that municipalities have told him that children are booked in for longer stints at daycare than they really need, and parents do not notify staff when they will be absent.
There is no incentive to do so, as refunds or reduction in costs are not on offer. That makes it more difficult for daycare managers to move staff to cover absences and ensure minimum staffing ratios are maintained.
Lahtinen suggests that the so-called subjective right to daycare, which means all children are entitled to a spot if their parents request it, be revisited.
In 2016 the government of PM Juha Sipilä (Cen) allowed municipalities to restrict the right to daycare to 20 hours per week if one parent was unemployed or on parental leave.
That decision was rescinded after a lively debate in society, with early years education eventually seen as the child's right, rather than the parents'.
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