Lump sum baby bonus GONE......

[Marlene]

Found this info here...

Baby Bonus means test and payment by instalments

From 1 January 2009 Baby Bonus will only be payable to families whose estimated combined adjusted taxable income is $75,000 or less in the first 6 months following the birth or adoption of a child. Baby Bonus will also no longer be available as a lump sum payment and instead will be paid in 13 fortnightly instalments to all recipients.

All Baby Bonus customers with babies born on or after 1 January 2009 will be affected by this measure.

There will be changes to the claiming process, as you will need to detail your estimated family income for the 6 month period following the birth or adoption of a child.

Receiving Baby Bonus in instalments over 13 fortnights may help families to better manage their finances during the period immediately following the birth or adoption of a child.

[Trillian]

That was announced ages ago too. THey have also changed how the maternity immunisation allowance is paid so you don't get it all at 18mths, you get some at 18mths and the rest after their 4yo vacc's to ensure that you continue vaccination to that point. I imagine that once a lot of people get it at 18mths, there is no 'incentive' for them to get the 4yo ones done.

[Marlene]

Isn't it funny how when the large lump sum baby bonuses first some out it was all over the news/current affairs, but when there are changes it barely rates a mention.

It doesn't affect me anyway, just wanted to let others know.

[BeautifulMadness]

if my hubby was earning 75k id be a happy women lol

[kawazuki]

most people will still get it as its teh first 6 months income not 12 months icnome.
and they would have to be on 150k plus a year to get a reduced rate.

i know that we dont earn near that.
we are lucky to earn 75k combined in 12 months after i have bub as i dont plan on going straight back this time

[Visitor8]

they announced this change about 10 months ago hun.

[briggsy's girl]

they announced this change about 10 months ago hun.

yup, it was announced in the 2008 budget on May 10 - it was all over the news for ages. i guess it may have been something you missed if you weren't interested in the budget info or if you weren't expecting or planning a kidlet cos it didn't apply to you at the time

[Willow]

We'll still qualify but meh, would rather get it in one hit. I've never received any payments from FAO or Centrelink before (other than at tax time on the very rare occasion we get anything at all) so fortnightly repayments seem...messy...to me! LOL. I'd rather just get it and be done with it.

Last time we used a big chunk to pay our ob fees. Thankfully we are covered by PHI this time, otherwise we'd be a bit up the creek in that regard.

[briggsy's girl]

doh - replied to wrong thread! my answer made no sense - sorry ladies!!

i agree with installments, i agree (to a degree) with having an income cut off - i just get grumpy that it's a hard line cut off - ALL eligibility for things like this should have a sliding scale - $1 makes the difference of whether you receive $5000 or not...

[bub1]

I wouldn't be entitle to it, just my salary is close to the 150K mark and plus adding Hubbys would make us go way over that does that mean I would get nothing?

[Visitor8]

I actually agree with it. I must be one of few though cos the general opinion I am getting is negative.

[Shalou]

Hi, you can get around not qualifying for the baby bonus by salary sacraficing your superannuation. I've heard of quite a few families doing this, there was an article in one of the parenting mags about how you could get around it.

[black_rose]

Its a bit of a pain to be having it in installments for us, with DD we have put aside the money for her and want to do the same again so getting it each forthnight means we gave to remember to transfer the money over so it doesn't get spent on bills.

[Calluna]

Kind of an old thread I know but...

For us this really SUCKS! We qualify still, so I guess in that regard were lucky, but I was really hoping and planning to use that money to buy things we NEED for the baby soon after it's born. Both my partner and I are relying on Centrelink at the moment as he's studying full time and I cant work, and because they barely pay us enough to live on, let alone buy much needed things for our baby. We really needed that extra money up front so we can buy things like a pram/ stroller, clothes, high chair, bouncer/ swing and a whole heap of other stuff I probably havent even thought of yet.
It makes me so angry when Centrelink decide what is best for everyone without asking them what they need and looking at thier individual circumstances first. We dont gamble or drink, we didn't plan to have a big spend up on ourselves when we got the $5000, we planned to spend it on our child to give it the best start to life possible under our circumstances, now because of these changes our child is going to miss out on a tonne of much needed items.
How is that fair that so many other families before Jan 09 got the lump sum payment to do with what they like and we get f**ked over like this. It's just not fair. As if we didnt have enough to worry about financially without this thrown in to the mix.
Fortnightly payments just arent gonna cut it. Sure it'll help with little things like nappies and wipes but what about the big items? Where are we supposed to get the money for that? What are we supposed to do?

they did the same when calculating how much my partner was to get on Austudy. What he's getting now, what he's "entitled" to barely covers his repayments on his car and the fuel he needs to get to tafe and back each week. Where as what I'm "entitled" to is more than he gets and I don't have a job or any commitments other than my monthly phone bill. How does that work? So now I have to transfer money to his account each fortnight so he has enough to live on and more at the start of each month to cover his phone bill. Even then we are both JUST scraping by. On top of all this we have a layby on a cot and a car seat to pay off because those two things were absolutely neccesary, in our eyes, to have before the baby is born.
Sorry for the rant. Just had to get that out.

[briggsy's girl]

you have 19 weeks to go - layby the big items from a baby store and pay them off - the first few installments will have you collecting big ticket items.

there is no need for some of the big ticket items straight away - you can hire a capsule from local council for not too much - which takes care of your car seat for first 4-6 months. cot doesn't need to be exxy - keep an eye on target sales or even look at op shops. high chair - not needed for months. bouncer etc - again, not a necessity. pram/stroller - the variation in price is huge - get one that does what you need, not necessarily one with all the bells and whistles. if you can, get a sling or something for first up outings until the baby bonus starts being paid and then you can go without pram for a while too.

the way payments are calculated related to income and assetts, and what payment you're on. new start is higher level of payment than youth allowance or austudy. if you're partnered, you may be getting rent assistance while he isn't.

it's not about making life diifficult for anyone - it's about making another government welfare payment equal across the board for all those eligible. there is no reason why this should be paid in a lump sum anymore - it is now a WELFARE payment, not an entitlement. it is designed to help new mum's to supplement a wage for the first 6 months so that they can hopefully meet WHO recommendations for exclusive BF - a lot was taken into consideration for this to be changed - and like all other welfare entitlements, it will be paid in fortnightly installments

[briggsy's girl]

Double post

[Liz]

I prefer the lumpsum myself too. But I think it's a good idea to have instalments if it means people can see it as extra income to help them stay home with the bub longer. Lump sums can be spent quite easily & quite quickly!

Just need to keep in mind that it's a bonus, they don't HAVE to give us money when we have babies! and it's probably not a good thing if we're heavily relying on this $5k.. babies cost a lot more than that LOL. But every bit counts, and if it helps people stay home with their bubs, then it's a good thing in my books

[Calluna]

We already have the cot and change table on layby, in a deal the cheapest we could find without giving up safety and quality, and we are struggling to pay that off. This is why I'm worried.
We had decided to leave things like the pram, until after the baby was born because we could use a sling for a while its still small. But now I cant see us being able to afford anything else before or after the babys born and I guess I just feel a bit lost and unable to cope. I just dont know how were gonna do it.
I know they dont have to give us the money but because I was told I would get it then it did become something we relied on, iykwim? I know babies cost alot more than that but it is a huge help to us even if others dont see it that way.

*sigh* I didnt mean to be rude. Just needed to get it out. I've been really stressed out about a lot of things the last few days and I'm finding it very hard to cope. Sorry if I offended anyone that was never my intention.