Lovetoteach

Thank you for all the suggestions I will look into some of the options. 

Basically schools I have contacted have told me that they won’t put kids back a year and that the oldest would only have 3 months to complete her GCSEs before the start mock exams. I was told she would be unlikely to pass any in such a short time. I have also been told you can’t do A-levels without GCSEs. 

We had planned to move back to the UK in 2020 barring disaster . We had a small window of opportunity to move with our children who were aged 18, 13 and 12 without messing up their education. Unfortunately two disasters hit us in 2020 Covid and some personal difficulties which has meant that window of time has gone. We are still keen to move and so are the youngest two, oldest is settled here now. The problem is our youngest 2 are now 15 and almost 14 and would be in GCSE years. I have found out that the only way to move the children now without an adverse effect on their education would be to place them in an international school with small class sizes and the option to complete GCSEs over a year. Sadly we can’t  afford this option as it looks like £15000+ per child a year. Does anyone know of a different option? I know it’s not looking good and looks likely we will be in Australia for the next 10 years if not forever. 

Good luck I hope it all works out for you. We had planned to move back in the middle of last year when our oldest was 18. We wanted to get him through high school first. Oldest was very keen to move back, he told us he hated Australia and was desperate to leave. Due to Covid we discussed putting it back to the end of the year. Then out of the blue he moved out with a girlfriend we didn't know anything about. We have had to put plans on hold and now we don't know what to do for the best. As others have said in 2 1/2 years a lot can happen with teenagers and they may not want to move with you even if they say they do now. If they are keen I'd go now if you can afford to. 

For your daughter in year 10 I would look at the school system in Scotland and see what year she would be there and what the qualification system is. If she will have missed a whole year it may be hard to catch up.  Having said that due to the recent lockdowns may students will be behind. Maybe also contact some schools for advice.

6 hours ago, Marisawright said:

It sounds like you've already hit that problem, where one of the kids gets old enough to form relationships and then if you do move, you're faced with a split family. 

I think you said your husband was 50. Just be aware that if you leave it another ten years, you'll still be leaving before he can claim the Australian government pension - which means he'll never get it, but he also may not have enough years to get the UK pension.  If you have a big superannuation pot that may not matter, but it's worth being aware of.  It would be worth looking into paying NI contributions as you go along, to ensure you can get a full UK pension when you return.  If you return, of course - if you wait that long, you'll likely have three settled Aussie kids whom you'll have to leave behind.

You don't sound as though you're all that bothered about moving in the long term.  How does your husband feel?  Is he the one hankering for home?

Yes we have a lot to consider, which is part of our reasoning behind leaving it a bit longer. My husband is more keen than I am and we deliberately chose a time so our son ( who was very keen) could finish school but before our other kids hit the critical school years. We have discussed how to increase our pensions over the next few years I  both countries. Sometimes I wish we had never come that way we wouldn't have to make the decision.

10 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

Just be careful about putting it off and putting it off and putting it off....because especially once your children are in their teens, it's very very easy to get to the point of no return.  If you (or one of you) are horrified by the idea of spending the rest of your life in Australia, don't risk it by delaying.

Yes, we have discussed it, not ideal we know which is why end of 2021 would be our absolute last chance or at least the last chance for 10 more years. As it is we would be most likely leaving behind a 20 year old who earlier in the year insisted he hated Australia but has since moved in with a girlfriend. There are worse places to be than Australia so the thought of staying long term doesn't worry us but we would currently prefer to be closer to our parents as they get older. 

We like you had decided to move at the end of the year and made some plans and timelines. Covid 19 and some personal challenges made us change our dates to July 2021. We have recently decided to leave in until the end of 2021. It's not ideal as our children will be 13 and 14 with the oldest part way through year 10. We decided that is the absolute latest date we can go and if it still looks bad we won't go.

Yes we are also frustrated. Decided in January to leave at the end of the year after 10 years in SA. This gave us time to save up, book flights we wanted in advance, sell home, cars and belongings without the stress. We'd also planned to see as much of Australia as possible by the end of the year. Our youngest would also finish primary school here, go on her Canberra trip like her older siblings. Now our trips are cancelled, savings on hold, house prices? 

Hi Goldieinoz we will most likely move at the end of the year but dependent on house sale.

On 26/02/2020 at 13:45, Goldieinoz said:

Hi all, we’re at the beginning stages of planning a move back to the UK from Adelaide and are hoping to get some info from here....

We have a 2 bedroom house worth of stuff plus tools etc and are debating selling what we can and getting 1 or 2 movecubes or using a shipping company and taking it all in a 20ft container. Can anyone give us their experience with either option?

An idea of recent costs and the time taken to get to the UK would be great...

Thanks!

Sorry can't help you much but we are debating the same as you. From what have researched looks like the container option shipped from Adelaide to London will be about $8000 packed up by company but depends on many factors. 

Thanks for those who have posted costs to move their belongings. I know each person's situation is different but it does help when deciding if it is worth shipping all or a little. 

How much have people spent moving their belongings back to the UK? 

On 25/11/2019 at 17:36, Amber Snowball said:

I still use the money saving expert site for all sorts of information. I get the newsletter by email so hear about all the latest best deals!

Thanks for the tip. I will have to have a look. 

Thanks for the reply paulswin. It's positive you got a mortgage, my hubby is going to be 50 as well so that is good news. Shame about the house prices though.  We'd like to live in the SouthEast and that prices look crazy. Unfortunately our house here won't have risen much over the last 5 years since we bought it.

Thanks for all your responses it sounds quite positive. It took 4 years to get a mortgage here in Australia , I would hate to wait another 4 over there.

3 hours ago, Tulip1 said:

As long as you have the required deposit and a permanent job with the contract to prove it you should be able to get a mortgage (subject to not having negative credit)  You don’t even need to wait for a probationary period to finish.  The south east is expensive although it varies a lot depending on where. Some places are less desirable and that’s very much reflected in the price but still not cheap.  Do you have an area in mind?

3 hours ago, Amber Snowball said:

Hi, I moved back end of June last year. By the following week i had an offer in principle for a mortgage at market rate from the Halifax. I had an ok deposit from the sale of my Aussie house, about 35-40%. I also had a job offer letter. This seemed to be all they needed. To open an account you’ll need an address and proof of living there. I used my aunts address and my UK driver’s licence was registered to that address so used that.

That's much quicker than I had thought. We are hoping that at least one of us has employment before we land. We still have a UK bank account that is still being used monthly so hopefully that will help as well. Unfortunately house prices where we live now haven't risen much, but hopefully we'll still be looking at a reasonable deposit.

2 hours ago, Tulip1 said:

As long as you have the required deposit and a permanent job with the contract to prove it you should be able to get a mortgage (subject to not having negative credit)  You don’t even need to wait for a probationary period to finish.  The south east is expensive although it varies a lot depending on where. Some places are less desirable and that’s very much reflected in the price but still not cheap.  Do you have an area in mind?

Wow that's positive . We are looking at West Sussex but are fairly open to other areas. We'd like to be fairly close to London, an airport (my family live across Europe) and not to far from the sea. We would also like to be connected by train. We know there are cheaper areas and have already come to terms with the fact we'll be downsizing. 

Hi all,

My husband and I are 75% certain that we are going to make a move back to the UK next year. Our son aged 18 feels that he would like to move back and our girls aged 11 and 12 are yet to start High school over here ( one starts next year). We feel that it is the only chance we will get to make the move in the next 10 years. We moved over here in 2004, but stayed only briefly before making the move more permanent in 2010. The kids and I have citizenship, but hubby hasn’t got round to it yet. We are still considering whether he puts in an application in the next few months, but aren’t to worried at this stage.
Currently we live in Adelaide and it has been a lovely city to bring up the kids but we feel like we are running out of things to do. We’d like to see more of the world and believe the UK maybe a better place to do this from. Our parents are all in their 70s now so being a bit closer would also be a bonus. 
The things that worry me are the price of housing in the UK as we’d like to be in the South East and getting a mortgage. We don’t think we could afford to leave our house here rented out but are worried that it could take years for us to buy in the UK. Does anyone know the current waiting times to get a mortgages in the UK for new arrivals at the moment? Is it difficult to get a mortgage? 
Thanks in advance.