Mat Leave - what does your work offer?

[Loveinamist]

My husband and I currently live in the UK and we are making the decision whether to have children here or back in Australia. My work offers 4 ? months full maternity pay + a return to work bonus. I also get 28 days holiday, so all up I will have almost 6 months Mat pay. I?m then eligible for 26 weeks at Statutory pay - around ?120 per week.

On top of that the government gives a child grant of around ?80 per month + a ?250 baby grant which you can invest for the child + they cover the costs of the birth if in a public hospital

I?ve never worked properly in Australia so I have no idea what companies/government offer in terms of Mat leave and child support. I?d be really keen to hear the following:

*what your work offers
*how long you have to be with you company to qualify
*what kind on industry you work in
*how many days holiday you get per year
*Government - what financial support do they provide

Thanks ladies!

I am not sure about recently but when I was working in Australia a couple of years ago and planning a pregnancy I had to fight to get twelve weeks maternity pay from my employers (I was a teacher at a private secondary school). The standard then was 6 paid weeks and I negotiated 12 but that was around the time of Workplace Agreements under John Howard which (please Aussies correct me if I am wrong!!) have been discarded now under the new government. Back then as well there was the baby bonus which is a pretty big whack of cash (about $5000 I think) but you need to prove that you are a permanent resident of Australia and it is paid over a period of time. In this way it is probably comparable to our Statutory Mat pay (or Mat allowance) in the UK.

One thing we found living in Australia was the cost of living is not as cheap as you would think. House prices have rocketed and rents as well. We lived in Australia in the late 90s and then again in the mid 2000s and really noticed the difference in the cost of living. We were much better off in the late 90s and that was when we were not as high up in our careers and on less money!!! Australia is a lovely place to bring up children but then there are places here in the UK that have the same qualities. We decided to come back to the UK as it suited our lifestyle better, our families are both here and we are no better off financially in either place!! I am not sure if you are Australian or not and have family there or here in the UK but being in the same country as our families was a big factor in our decision to have children here. I really wanted my children to see their grandparents more than once every couple of years if that. It is up to the individual of course and every situation is different but they were the reasons for our decision.

Hope that helps! Hopefully some Aussies who are actually in Australia at the moment will be able to give you some more recent information!

EDIT -forgot to say that my 12 weeks pay was conditional on having been with the employer for 12 months!