so a family friend is moving from Sweden to England and wants some info. they have 2 kids (ages 7 and 2) and both husband and wife are professionals.
what are some of the better areas to live in, in terms of good schools (public), safe neighbourhoods, well educated ppl and just generally a good environment to raise a family in?
compared to Scandanavia,UK is cheap, but still… what should a family of 4 be earning to live comfortably in Englnd? whats a good enough salary?
any other tips or thoughts that a person moving from abroad may not be aware of about british living, or expenditures (the hidden costs)… especially day to day living…
England is pretty different in different regions. London is a very different ball game to the midlands and the north is a totally different game all together. So it really depends what region they are planning on moving into.
Property prices are all very different. The culture is more of less the same across britain, so that is not a huge challenge. London and greater london has more job opportunities but life gets more and more robotic and difficult.
Midland is the next big market job wise.
If in London, I would say the minimum salary should be around £50K otherwise it will become very hand to mouth to live for a family of four. In the North, comfortable salary is around 30k
It all greatly depends on what lifestyle they want to live with. That will determine the cost of living. For example. public schooling v/s private schooling. Private medical v/s NHS , cost of commute , owning a car v/s public transport etc ..
the husband’s office is in Stockley Park but he isnt required to go in everyday (mostly for meetings only which arent that many to begin with) and can work from home.. so it widens the area search quite a bit. they DO want to be close to london (2 hours max driving)… but its not more important than areas with good schools. thats the most important right now… good schools and educated well balanced neighbourhoods.
as for schooling… aiming for public schools…
will have their own car
and company husband works for has pvt medical insurance.
since their most important point is education.. if he will work in stockley park then i would say he could stay in london and get the best of education for kids too. here’s a couple of links;
london’s pretty expensive and it depends on what “comfortable” lifestyle means but i would say around 40k for a family of four would be pretty comfortable. especially if they’re aiming for public schools. there’s also quite a few decent grammar schools (selective, state funded) in london if they choose to have their kids sit the exams. personally i’d say they’re pretty good, get the best of both sort of thing without paying out of the butt for em. kids need to pass certain exams to be admitted (relying on their own merit) and overall grammar schools usually top league tables. if anything, your friends should think about moving to an area of london where they have good grammar schools, provided they think their children can do well enough to pass those exams/or can equip them well to pass. grammar schools also offer more variety in terms of extra curricular activities than their average state counterparts.
Surrey is a pretty nice area there are grammar schools here. Depending on where you live in Surrey you can be in London in an hour. I studied in Leicester and the city has some nice areas, though I do not know much about schools. You can get to central London from Leicester in roughly over an hour on the direct train. Ashford in Kent will get you into Central London in about 40 min. St Albans is good for commuting to and from London and has a reasonable house price.
I think your friends should look into local schools, shops and transport to help them decide for location. As traffic can get really bad in Central London people normally commute by public transport so I would recommend picking a place that also has good transport links.
Are you sure the family is okay with a two hour commute? Over time, that kind of travel even if it’s not daily is going to get tiresome. Traffic is gruesome if driving and all it takes is for the wrong type of snow to fall for trains to be delayed.
I missed this thread before. I live in Surrey and now people who live in all those areas except Marlow and Leicester (which seems a bit random). For the schools and so as not to be too far from London and his office, I’d say the best options are Surrey, Kent (these two are counties so close to the M25 would be the best locations within these and because one is considering such a large area there are good and bad pockets within both), or St. Albans and the surrounding area.
I’d say for a family of 4, you are looking at a pre tax income of 50K and above, this is a monthly income of £3000 after tax. To rent a 3-bed place, you are looking at about £1500/month or more (in those areas) depending on if they want something fancy (i.e. flat in a concierged new apartment building) rather than just comfortable. One must also consider that there will be council tax, gas+electric, water, phone+net bills. For a 3 bed place, I’d say you’d be looking at £300-£350 a month for that stuff. So that leaves just over £1000/month for car expenses, petrol, food, clothes, etc. Seems like enough but I think they’d have to watch their spending.
I think £350 a month on council tax and bills is a bit low, no?
Personally I think midlands is a better place to base yourself. Easy to get to London, central for everything and your money goes further. Obviously I am really generalising here as there are very expensive places in the midlands too.
^Should be around that for a 3 bed house/flat council tax and utilities only. Perhaps higher during the colder months if they have the heating on a lot.
Lol, I dunno if it makes much difference. Council tax bandings don’t vary that much around the country and 3 beds generally fit in the same band. You have to have a go up quite a few bands (i.e house twice the size) for the monthly payments to significantly increase. Water rates (£40 for a family of 4) and phone+internet (£30 for a decent package) aren’t variable either. The only thing that depends on personal usage is gas+electric and if the house has gch then average £100-£150/month is typical](https://edfenergyuk.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/976/~/how-much-more-will-i-pay-following-the-price-increase%3F). I didn’t include TV associated costs or mobile phones.
