For those thinking of moving back to the UK

[Guest]

At least in Australia they are cracking down on the professional jobless and those who want to bring their own particular flavour of radicalism here.

 

Not sure why anyone would want to be jobless in the UK must be so depressing.

 

Over here you could just hang out at the beach for free to kill time

[jasepom]

Dont know why you would want to be working in England either.

[paul1977]

Not sure why anyone would want to be jobless in the UK must be so depressing.

 

Over here you could just hang out at the beach for free to kill time

Never knew sunshine paid the bills

[Guest Andy]

Dont know why you would want to be working in England either.

 

What an absolutely ridiculous statement!

[Keith and Linda]

What an absolutely ridiculous statement!

 

Andy, jasepom is just really really really missing Australia, and that you should be here working in Aus and not the UK

[Chortlepuss]

It's pretty grim being jobless anywhere but if I had to chose I'd plump for free healthcare and cheaper cost of living in UK over sunny Australia. To get the benefits of living here you need to have a solid Ozzie income. You're not going to enjoy the beach if you can't afford sun cream, $5 for a ice cream or $10 for a cool glass of beer!

[bunbury61]

If you come down to where I live , it's still the England that left behind and has lived up to all my dreams about coming home after living in Oz for 42 years .

i remember back in 1972 when I went through a town in Sydney called Cabamatta and thought I was in the Middle East .

all big cities now have this problem .

England has changed like every other country but I still beleive it is still a great Nation .

 

 

I do realise England has changed , and I do try to point out the things that I see on my travels ....its busier , that's for sure .....people have got less time for each other , especially in the urban areas , immigration has also spiralled out of control .

But on the whole , it is still genuinely a fantastic place to live ......there is loads of regeneration on with the road network ( its needed ) .....I drive through towns I haven't been through for 10 years , and think ....bloody hell ...that's new ...and that ....and that .

I had the pleasure of driving through Quolls neck of the woods last week ......stunning .

off the busy a14 ( huge road project going on there ) ....into OUNDLE .....the sign says something like OUNDLE 972 AD .......I thought this is nice ....into a beautiful village ....all the usual stuff ...up the hill , round the corner ...and there was the village church ......bloody hell .......stunning ....on through the country lanes ....onto an A road by passing Peterborough ( that looks a decent place ) and onto the village of March ....very nice .....

People can let their immediate environment cloud their judgement about the whole of the U.K ....I mean I come from Brum ...and the lifestyle of someone from Brum is poles apart from that of someone in Oundle .....someones view of life in Wolverhampton would differ greatly from someone who resides in bridgnorth and they are a 20 minute drive apart .

[Perthbum]

Andy, jasepom is just really really really missing Australia, and that you should be here working in Aus and not the UK

But then Andy would really really really be missing the UK as so many do.

[Chortlepuss]

Dont know why you would want to be working in England either.

Permanent work contacts and 25+ days annual leave would be a good incentive for me. I had 30 days annual leave in my last job in the UK but assume that's taking the mickey now? anyone out there permanent IT project manager/business analyst want to tell me how much annual leave is typical in UK now so I can be jealous?

[Chortlepuss]

I do realise England has changed , and I do try to point out the things that I see on my travels ....its busier , that's for sure .....people have got less time for each other , especially in the urban areas , immigration has also spiralled out of control .

But on the whole , it is still genuinely a fantastic place to live ......there is loads of regeneration on with the road network ( its needed ) .....I drive through towns I haven't been through for 10 years , and think ....bloody hell ...that's new ...and that ....and that .

I had the pleasure of driving through Quolls neck of the woods last week ......stunning .

off the busy a14 ( huge road project going on there ) ....into OUNDLE .....the sign says something like OUNDLE 972 AD .......I thought this is nice ....into a beautiful village ....all the usual stuff ...up the hill , round the corner ...and there was the village church ......bloody hell .......stunning ....on through the country lanes ....onto an A road by passing Peterborough ( that looks a decent place ) and onto the village of March ....very nice .....

People can let their immediate environment cloud their judgement about the whole of the U.K ....I mean I come from Brum ...and the lifestyle of someone from Brum is poles apart from that of someone in Oundle .....someones view of life in Wolverhampton would differ greatly from someone who resides in bridgnorth and they are a 20 minute drive apart .

 

The variety is so great! When I was in the UK I decided my kids should go to primary school in a nearby village about 2 miles away instead of our local school about half a mile away. I told my boss at the time who lived in the village and he said 'aaah! I heard a lot of outsiders were coming to the school these days....'

[Aunt Agatha]

Permanent work contacts and 25+ days annual leave would be a good incentive for me. I had 30 days annual leave in my last job in the UK but assume that's taking the mickey now? anyone out there permanent IT project manager/business analyst want to tell me how much annual leave is typical in UK now so I can be jealous?

 

 

My DH is a business analyst and just saw a permanent job advertised with 27 days holiday (plus bank holidays) rising to 31 with service. I almost broke a leg launching myself across the room to encourage him to apply for it!!

[backtothefuture]

This thread was so long, i have to admit that i skipped to the end. But this quote by Chortlepuss made me chuckle, "You're not going to enjoy the beach if you can't afford sun cream". Too true.

We all have our reason's for feeling homesick or wanting to be in a different place. I could rave on for well over a page about my personal circumstances, but here's the secret.

Do what's right for you at the time. My parents spent 10 years and the last 18 months of it (and a hell of a lot of money on parents visa's) planning their 'return to Aus' (They emigrated in 86' only lasting 3years). Only for my mother to pass away 6 months before being due to emigrate. She spent far too long saying 'what if' and 'when' never to have it realised. So i say to all who want to go back to the UK or return to AUS, do it, life is far too short and unkind enough without making it difficult on yourself

[yates's]

We moved back to the UK in 2010 after living in Adelaide for 3 years. Returned due to me being homesick missing family and friends. Been in UK 4 years and spent the last 3 wanting to return to Oz but couldn't due to rubbish exchange rate etc...I never thought I would miss Oz so much and the fantastic weather. I like UK and Oz but I believe my children will have a better future in Oz. Reasons are different for everyone. Got a RR Visa and would like to ping pong back to Oz next year. Fingers crossed.

[Perthbum]

We moved back to the UK in 2010 after living in Adelaide for 3 years. Returned due to me being homesick missing family and friends. Been in UK 4 years and spent the last 3 wanting to return to Oz but couldn't due to rubbish exchange rate etc...I never thought I would miss Oz so much and the fantastic weather. I like UK and Oz but I believe my children will have a better future in Oz. Reasons are different for everyone. Got a RR Visa and would like to ping pong back to Oz next year. Fingers crossed.

ping pong I smell, when yoy get back to oz after a few months you will miss the UK, the summer her has been very good so it cant be the weather.

[yates's]

ping pong I smell, when yoy get back to oz after a few months you will miss the UK, the summer her has been very good so it cant be the weather.

 

Suffering those ping pong blues. I'd like to think I'm a bit wiser the second time. Summer in Bury lasted about three weeks so I agree, better than usual.

[fizzybangs]

quote...from a friend of mine who sums it up.

For those who are unaware what a zero hour contract is i'll do my best to explain.

It means an employer takes someone on in what appears to be a full time job but in the small print it actually turns out to be a full time contract with zero hours guaranteed. Seems ludicrous I know but what it means to the employer is that if work is slow for whatever reason they simply send a number of employees home without pay and they call them back out when there is work for them. Now this sort of thing happens in certain sectors I hear you say well here's the morally wrong part, an employee can be 'laid off' for 3 weeks at a time but is NOT entitled to any benefits as according to the benefits agency they are still employed even if their wage slip shows no hours worked and no payment made. They are simply turned away.

I work for Veolia Environmental services in Scotland and they have been rolling this out over the past 9 months meaning that anybody getting started is on zero hours. Indeed there has been at least four people that I know of who left full time employment with standard 40 hour contracts to come here and were never told about the zero hours. As you can imagine they are seething but unable to do anything about it.

It is now going to be rolled out to all divisions of Veolia throughout the UK.

The union is now fighting to have this practice stopped as it's like the way things were 60 years ago.

 

What are your thoughts on this ?

 

Exactly the same as for my son in Australia then in the engineering and construction industry. He went from one job site where he was permanently employed to do some work at their request, found out he was now on casual and has not been classed as permanent since without being told this initially. Workers do not seem to have rights any more unless they work for government but even then it can be a problem. Met a woman who is a special needs teacher, permanent, full time. She does a market stall to supplement her income and explained that she does not get paid during school holidays! I was astounded. She only gets paid for her hours there. And this is Australia!

[Gilllian]

We did the same, and then came back 18 months later ... but we don't view it as a mistake because we're much more settled in Oz now.

In hindsight I wished we had not packed up lock stock and barrel but instead just visited the UK for a couple of years to test the water

[Chortlepuss]

Exactly the same as for my son in Australia then in the engineering and construction industry. He went from one job site where he was permanently employed to do some work at their request, found out he was now on casual and has not been classed as permanent since without being told this initially. Workers do not seem to have rights any more unless they work for government but even then it can be a problem. Met a woman who is a special needs teacher, permanent, full time. She does a market stall to supplement her income and explained that she does not get paid during school holidays! I was astounded. She only gets paid for her hours there. And this is Australia!

Hubby works as a teacher and is one of the rare few on a permanent contract. Many of the teachers and support workers don't get paid for holidays which is scandalous given the pay levels - historically low pay was seen as trade off for generous leave. I am on zero hours as is my daughter. I think over 40% of workforce in Oz is casualized which makes things grim for getting and keeping a roof over your head. I am paid very well (IT contractor) so take the risk but would struggle in Brisbane to get permanent work in IT.

[Johndoe]

My son is a school aide (mainly library and running tuck shop) and has been employed by the school since finishing year 12 at the same school. He's now approaching 21 and although not full time, (4 days a week), he accrues leave according to the hours he works. Unfortunately, his accruals run out regularly as he doesn't work enough hours to accrue sufficient to cover school holidays. I can't really see a gripe with those who don't get paid for holidays as in his case. Workers usually get paid according to how much leave entitlement and leave pay they have accrued. If you work normal hours but have much more leave than the average worker, then I can't see why you should be paid for the extra time off, compared to normal leave entitlement............if you don't accrue it (as in my son's case) then you aren't entitled to it

[Petals]

My son is a school aide (mainly library and running tuck shop) and has been employed by the school since finishing year 12 at the same school. He's now approaching 21 and although not full time, (4 days a week), he accrues leave according to the hours he works. Unfortunately, his accruals run out regularly as he doesn't work enough hours to accrue sufficient to cover school holidays. I can't really see a gripe with those who don't get paid for holidays as in his case. Workers usually get paid according to how much leave entitlement and leave pay they have accrued. If you work normal hours but have much more leave than the average worker, then I can't see why you should be paid for the extra time off, compared to normal leave entitlement............if you don't accrue it (as in my son's case) then you aren't entitled to it

 

This is all very well when we are young and have no family to look after, however once we have family we need more certainty in our lives. Having a casualised work force leads to more mental health problems as I see it as we need to know that we are a valued member of something, not just to be picked up and dropped at the whim of someone.

 

I believe that we had less before but we had certainty in our lives, we were appreciated if we were loyal workers. At the present time there are those workers on very good conditions at work and then there are more people who are not. The workers who make up most of the wheel are not on good conditions or certainty in their jobs.

 

When are the powers that be going to realise people need to know they are not getting a cardboard box of their things tomorrow and told to go.

[PaulRaynor]

Living in Brisbane as a primary school contract teacher is a merry-go-round. I am employed from the beginning of a term to the end of it. Then that is the end of my contract. Bye Paul and thanks! However I know they are going to call me back the following term its always been that way. Sure enough around about day 2 or 3 of the first week the phone rings and it's "Hey Paul how are ya going?, Are you coming back this term?, great come in tomorrow!" Luckily I have spent that unpaid holiday planning my lessons and termly schemes of work. Otherwise all those lessons would have to magically appear overnight. Apart from anything else those 12 unpaid weeks a year play havoc with your super contributions and you can't get anything from Centrelink because you are not actively looking for other work during 3 x 2 weeks and 1 x 6 week in the summer as much as I've tried.