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The attitude that nothing would happen as they won't get caught as its such a small amount in the grand scheme of things seemed pretty prevalent

Yes, have also met quite a few people who have left commercial debt, credit card etc (quite huge amounts, 20,000+ ) I would just be so on edge all the time!

I assume they are getting centrelink payments as they are all Perm. Residents as far as I am aware, glad its not something that the majority think is ok

Yes there was a lot of back and forth to the centrelink office to prove things but once we got the CRN number and everything sorted, the online thing is easy to keep updated should circumstances change such as salary etc.

Not a chance, far too straight, would be waking up each day wondering if today was the day there is a knock at the door! It just seemed pretty common amongst people i have come across, seems like i was the only one who was pretty shocked that they were risking it....

:embarrassed: ha agree Bungo! yes they will be in for a shock, rather them than me!!

So been here a year or so now, something that seems to be a common occurrence with some fellow expats. Quite a few people that I have spoken to (a lot more than I would have thought) have confirmed that they have kept their child benefits going into their uk bank accounts, despite the fact that they live here now permanently....1 person had been here over 4 years and still received this. She just transfers it over to her Aussie account. Averaging out to be about £100 a month +, thats quite a lot over a few years. Now when we left, we rang up and informed them we were leaving, never to return (probably) and also sent a letter and it stopped after about a month of being here. Having spoken to quite a few different families (all seem pretty decent and hard working), many seem to have kept this going. I assumed that a) it would stop automatically anyway (but didnt want to leave any loose ends) and b) you'd get caught as it is essentially fraud? Some claimed that they assumed as they were still citizens they were entitled to it?! Others just said the usual, "Ive paid enough taxes in uk..etc" So is this normal that people keep their child benefit going from the uk, surely they will caught up with eventually? Just wodnered if others had heard of this as it seems to be pretty common from the people i have met...or maybe I'm just mixing with the wrong crowd!! I assumed it had to be stopped as we weren't living there any more....

thanks for the info, il try and have a look for the paperwork for my teachers pension to see what it says

Hi all, I have recently arrived in australia and have a question about pensions. A brief background about me: I was a primary teacher in the uk from 2008 -2015, until I left this Easter. During that time I worked full time for 3 years, had a years maternity leave, carried on working part time for a year(2 days a week), another maternity leave and then worked 1 day a week for approx. months. I have missed the deadline to transfer my pension over to an oz one. Can anyone please explain what this means for when i retire in terms of my uk teachers pension? I have looked on their website but cant find an answer. In 30 years time, when i retire, will my pension be the same amount as it is now, for example £200/$400 a month or will it go up with inflation? $400 might only buy me a loaf of bread and a pint of milk in 30 years ;-) or will it be even less as I don't know if employers contributions would be paid if i am here? One of our friends was a public sector worker and said that, if I wanted, I could take my contributions out and get a lump sum now. obviously that would mean that I wouldn't get a teachers pension later in life. But I am thinking if I could take out a lump sum now, that might be more beneficial to me now than waiting for 30 years and potentially getting very small amount each month. Does anyone know any of the answers to this or could they point me in the right direction on how to find out? Also, I have worked since I was 16 years old in either part time or full time except for a few years when travelling or at uni, do I still get to claim a state pension for the UK? sorry for all the pension questions, I'll admit I'm pretty clueless when it comes to any pension business. thanks PIO

So, we have been in oz for 3 months and have just checked my UK bank account which I left oPen as i had one more pay to go in after we left. Anyway, checking my account has reminded me of something that I completely forgot about, I didn't inform the benefits office that we were emigrating. It just wasn't something that I had even thought about but either way for 3 months my UK account has had the £100 credited to it. Has anyone else ever forgotten about this when they emigrated? If so, what do I do? Can. I write to them explaininv what happened or call them? Or can I just cancel the payments going in or cancel my bank account which I had planned to do. I know its not a vast amount, £300, but obviously I want to sort it out in case the UK government track me down ;-)

Sorry for the boring question but our house is freezing in the evenings and wondering if anyone can shed light on whether we have a heating option on our air con remote. When I press heat/cool button it says error ad will only pump out cold air. Just wondering if anyone had same brand air con who could give directions for use,cant find the manual. Or does the error button mean that only set up for cool air? The rental advert does say gas heating but might refer to the little useless fireplace! I will check with the agent but thought someone might know on here. Below is photo of the air con remote

:arghh: Ha now I'm even more confused! So I don't have a CAN or CRN number as I don't have any dealings with them prior to now and yet when I went into centrelink, the lady said they don't really deal with centrelink stuff as it's all done online or over the phone. But I guess if I go in with all our things (passport, visa paperwork , anything else?! ) and say it won't let us do it online, hopefully someone will be able to help!

Hi, I've been into the centrelink offices yesterday to sort out Medicare and centrelink. They were able to do our Medicare stuff, nice and easy but said I had to go online for centrelink. We haven't set up our mobiles up yet so can't ring the helpline. I've set up the mygov account for which I have my user name but when I try and use the centrelink stuff to process our child benefit claim it asks for a CRN number or CAN number, it says I can find it on any letters or correspondence from centrelink which obviously I don't have. Does anyone know if it will be sent to me now iv set up our mygov account? Or is there an easier way of setting up the centrelink child benefit stuff? Computers are not my thing but would like to get it sorted while we are both off work. Sorry for the boring question! Just thought someone who has recently done it could shed some light?

Hi, I can't find this info out on Malaysian airlines' website but does anyone have recent experience as to whether you are allotted more than the standard weight limit for baggage if you are emigrating with a one way ticket? Thanks

Thanks for the advice everyone, just trying to research as much as possible before we leave and put off some other bits and bobs that I know I need doing before we leave!