Moving back after 31 years

[kateB]

I'm planning on moving back to the UK after 31 years, in a couple of years.  I will be about 58 /59. How easy is it to do? What about work at that age? Any thoughts?

 

[Marisawright]

Hi KateB and welcome.   

From what I've seen, the UK is much less ageist than Australia and you'll find it easier to get a job in the UK than in Oz at that age. 

Moving home is as easy as packing up your stuff and getting on the plane, but there is one important thing to be aware of before you take the plunge.

If you leave before you reach pensionable age in Australia, you won't be able to claim the Australian pension.  You'll still be able to get your superannuation (though it will be taxable in the UK), but not the govt. pension. And unless you've been paying National Insurance contributions to the UK all this time, you won't get a British pension either. 

If you've got heaps of superannuation, enough to last the rest of your life, then that may not worry you. If not, then it's a big issue and one you need to understand fully. I won't bore you with it now because maybe you're already well aware - but I'd be happy to fill you in if needs be. 

 

[AliQ]

56 minutes ago, kateB said:

I'm planning on moving back to the UK after 31 years, in a couple of years.  I will be about 58 /59. How easy is it to do? What about work at that age? Any thoughts?

 

Hi kateB,  that's a long time to be in Australia, is there any particular reason why you feel you need to return to the UK ?

It's an expensive exercise (we've made the move back to the UK twice now, it's not for us)

If you search this forum, you will find many many discussions on the UK versus Australia.

Good luck and I wish you well.

[Jacquie]

Hi Kate

we are doing the same thing. Been in Oz 23 years and heading home.

[Chortlepuss]

Hi KateB

I’m nearly 58 and making plans to retire at least part of the year in the UK. My friends and ex colleagues in the UK are still working some part time, some with new careers. I do miss working but as someone who has worked in IT since the late 1980’s I’m now seen as ‘too old’ to work in Queensland so although I apply for jobs and sometimes get interviews, I rarely get anywhere.  it is hard - I’m not quite ready to embrace retirement and know I’d be better placed to get some work in the UK but my family are here and not in a position to move so stuck for the moment. I think you should be fine for work once you move, ageism is everywhere but maybe there is just so much more opportunity in the UK? Note Marisa’s comments on pensions though - super important to be able to receive pension once you finally retire. May be worth seeing a financial advisor re: existing super - if you reach preservation date before you leave you could withdraw it before you leave and invest it in UK. You will be taxed in UZ on Australian pension income if you are over tax free threshold 

[Vickie78]

4 minutes ago, Chortlepuss said:

Hi KateB

I’m nearly 58 and making plans to retire at least part of the year in the UK. My friends and ex colleagues in the UK are still working some part time, some with new careers. I do miss working but as someone who has worked in IT since the late 1980’s I’m now seen as ‘too old’ to work in Queensland so although I apply for jobs and sometimes get interviews, I rarely get anywhere.  it is hard - I’m not quite ready to embrace retirement and know I’d be better placed to get some work in the UK but my family are here and not in a position to move so stuck for the moment. I think you should be fine for work once you move, ageism is everywhere but maybe there is just so much more opportunity in the UK? Note Marisa’s comments on pensions though - super important to be able to receive pension once you finally retire. May be worth seeing a financial advisor re: existing super - if you reach preservation date before you leave you could withdraw it before you leave and invest it in UK. You will be taxed in UZ on Australian pension income if you are over tax free threshold 

I'm recently 42, also a background in IT and well I can assure you Australia is painfully ageist compared to the UK,  Part of the reason I started my own business a few years back. Not even 40 and I could not secure a position, and I had amazing references, work history etc and so on. Bloody ridiculous and rage inducing.  My mum had issues too after being made redundant, years of loyalty and experience, accounted for nothing.    The anti discrimination laws are a joke too, good luck proving you didn't the get job because you're "too old", the Liberals "Just get a job" made me want to throw bricks at the TV. It's easy as, didn't you know?  

[Chortlepuss]

5 minutes ago, Vickie78 said:

I'm recently 42, also a background in IT and well I can assure you Australia is painfully ageist compared to the UK,  Part of the reason I started my own business a few years back. Not even 40 and I could not secure a position, and I had amazing references, work history etc and so on. Bloody ridiculous and rage inducing.  My mum had issues too after being made redundant, years of loyalty and experience, accounted for nothing.    The anti discrimination laws are a joke too, good luck proving you didn't the get job because you're "too old", the Liberals "Just get a job" made me want to throw bricks at the TV. It's easy as, didn't you know?  

Gosh I have never thought of 40’s as old! I’m sorry you’ve had that experience- tbh it doesn’t surprise me - in QLD the best person for the job doesn’t always matter. My last job finished in June last year and by then I was aware of how few people my age were in the office. When I see websites for IT companies or features on LinkedIn, it’s all trendy bearded blokes or young women in their 20’s. Then you have to read all the bollox about IT skills shortages! V frustrating 

[Vickie78]

2 minutes ago, Chortlepuss said:

Gosh I have never thought of 40’s as old! I’m sorry you’ve had that experience- tbh it doesn’t surprise me - in QLD the best person for the job doesn’t always matter. My last job finished in June last year and by then I was aware of how few people my age were in the office. When I see websites for IT companies or features on LinkedIn, it’s all trendy bearded blokes or young women in their 20’s. Then you have to read all the bollox about IT skills shortages! V frustrating 

Oh I know! Under 40 and feeling like I was already on the scrap heap! UGH. Yes you are right, trendy blokes,young people, junior positions, degrees needed for entry level positions(never mind your work, life, tech experience) ... *rage*

Totally frustrating indeed. 

[starlight7]

I was thinking how very brave of KateB and others who are moving back to their country of origin after many years. It would not have been an easy decision I am sure and wish them the best of luck ( or should I say, the best of British?) A close friend did the same , back to Scotland after nearly 40 years and for her it has worked out, she is very happy now. She did know from the start that one day she would go back though, she never really 'settled' here.

[Vickie78]

LOL Just as we were talking about earlier, this appeared on my FB feed... Surprise! Not! (Re: Ageism in Australia, and now recruiters have been told not to put forward people over 40, because they "don't fit the culture") 

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-07/recruiters-told-to-discard-older-job-applicants/11940558?sf229718208=1&fbclid=IwAR08BBJWSDF0Gw_briBhw1-Ivr_9v8Wt9w7KtSst69-6qVcZc9ega8aEf4s

Edited February 7, 2020 by Vickie78

[Amber Snowball]

3 hours ago, Vickie78 said:

LOL Just as we were talking about earlier, this appeared on my FB feed... Surprise! Not! (Re: Ageism in Australia, and now recruiters have been told not to put forward people over 40, because they "don't fit the culture") 

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-07/recruiters-told-to-discard-older-job-applicants/11940558?sf229718208=1&fbclid=IwAR08BBJWSDF0Gw_briBhw1-Ivr_9v8Wt9w7KtSst69-6qVcZc9ega8aEf4s

Love that “picking a footy team” is so crucial to employability. FFS!

[Home and Happy]

On 25/01/2020 at 06:15, kateB said:

I'm planning on moving back to the UK after 31 years, in a couple of years.  I will be about 58 /59. How easy is it to do? What about work at that age? Any thoughts?

 

You would do well to get out of that place.  As long as you got pension savings you’ll be all right.  Work is not a problem here.

[kateB]

Wow! That's very interesting, thanks for your response

[kateB]

7 hours ago, Amber Snowball said:

Love that “picking a footy team” is so crucial to employability. FFS!

Unbelievable! Lol....not a cultural fit!  So bizarre...I've worked with people of all ages....makes you wonder where it will end... compulsory euthanasia for old people cos they use precious resource ????! Thanks for your response

[Toots]

13 hours ago, Vickie78 said:

LOL Just as we were talking about earlier, this appeared on my FB feed... Surprise! Not! (Re: Ageism in Australia, and now recruiters have been told not to put forward people over 40, because they "don't fit the culture") 

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-07/recruiters-told-to-discard-older-job-applicants/11940558?sf229718208=1&fbclid=IwAR08BBJWSDF0Gw_briBhw1-Ivr_9v8Wt9w7KtSst69-6qVcZc9ega8aEf4s

I'm glad I'm out of the workforce after reading that article.  I was pretty lucky that the company I worked for employed people of all ages.  I retired when I was 62 and a friend at the same company retired when she was nearly 67.  We were valued and appreciated and age was never mentioned.  I have another friend who was a very young 70 when she retired from a large insurance company.  She could have retired earlier but she enjoyed the job and the good salary.  She was widowed a number of years ago and had no children so now she spends her time flitting around the world enjoying herself.  

[Chortlepuss]

15 hours ago, Vickie78 said:

LOL Just as we were talking about earlier, this appeared on my FB feed... Surprise! Not! (Re: Ageism in Australia, and now recruiters have been told not to put forward people over 40, because they "don't fit the culture") 

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-07/recruiters-told-to-discard-older-job-applicants/11940558?sf229718208=1&fbclid=IwAR08BBJWSDF0Gw_briBhw1-Ivr_9v8Wt9w7KtSst69-6qVcZc9ega8aEf4s

Part of me wishes that age discrimination was still legal! I remember as a 32 year old being told by my recruiter that I was too old to apply for a website development role. At least they were honest with me despite it being ridiculous. Now it is illegal to discriminate on age, you get the run around ‘too experienced’ ‘too expensive’ ‘not a good cultural fit’ etc... if companies were honest about age discrimination we could boycott them, name and shame and target employers who claim to be diverse in their recruitment practice. QLD government don’t even monitor age discrimination - as a major employer in Brisbane ageism isn’t seriously considered in their diversity strategy - so disappointing 

[Toots]

23 minutes ago, Chortlepuss said:

Part of me wishes that age discrimination was still legal! I remember as a 32 year old being told by my recruiter that I was too old to apply for a website development role. At least they were honest with me despite it being ridiculous. Now it is illegal to discriminate on age, you get the run around ‘too experienced’ ‘too expensive’ ‘not a good cultural fit’ etc... if companies were honest about age discrimination we could boycott them, name and shame and target employers who claim to be diverse in their recruitment practice. QLD government don’t even monitor age discrimination - as a major employer in Brisbane ageism isn’t seriously considered in their diversity strategy - so disappointing 

I hope things have improved in the UK since this article was written.  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/age-discrimination-uk-work-old-jobs-women-equalities-committee-mps-a8450066.html   

 

[Amber Snowball]

6 hours ago, Toots said:

I hope things have improved in the UK since this article was written.  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/age-discrimination-uk-work-old-jobs-women-equalities-committee-mps-a8450066.html   

 

I think it depends n the sector in both countries tbh. I have not seen any age discrimination in health in either place.
Actually just once as I think about it but that was a job as a nurse in a private financial company in Melbourne. They wanted someone for Friday drinks etc. Interviewers weren’t health professionals which is unusual for a nurse post,  so more a statement on the financial sector than the health one I suppose.

[Vickie78]

13 hours ago, Amber Snowball said:

I think it depends n the sector in both countries tbh. I have not seen any age discrimination in health in either place.
Actually just once as I think about it but that was a job as a nurse in a private financial company in Melbourne. They wanted someone for Friday drinks etc. Interviewers weren’t health professionals which is unusual for a nurse post,  so more a statement on the financial sector than the health one I suppose.

 Definitely more geared towards the office culture, retail, etc and so on, in Aus at least.  I went for a cleaning role once out of desperation, the guy whom did the Interview at the hotel was concerned I wouldn't be able to lift laundry, the big bags that go off to be washed... Just by looking at me. I was 36 then, Never mind the fact that I work out regularly and can probably lift more than him. Not sure if that were ageism or sexism didn't give me a trial run or ask me to lift  bag, nope just wrote me off just like that.  

[Toots]

1 hour ago, Vickie78 said:

 Definitely more geared towards the office culture, retail, etc and so on, in Aus at least.  I went for a cleaning role once out of desperation, the guy whom did the Interview at the hotel was concerned I wouldn't be able to lift laundry, the big bags that go off to be washed... Just by looking at me. I was 36 then, Never mind the fact that I work out regularly and can probably lift more than him. Not sure if that were ageism or sexism didn't give me a trial run or ask me to lift  bag, nope just wrote me off just like that.  

There are motels near us and I often see the ladies who clean the rooms heaving big bags of laundry onto a trolley.  Apparently 25 kilos max is the weight they can lift because of health and safety.  The motel owners make sure the staff don't lift anything heavier.  It sounds like the guy who interviewed you was sexist.  Also in supermarkets I see women lifting heavy looking boxes e.g. stacking big boxes of Coke cans one on top of the other.  

[Vickie78]

2 hours ago, Toots said:

There are motels near us and I often see the ladies who clean the rooms heaving big bags of laundry onto a trolley.  Apparently 25 kilos max is the weight they can lift because of health and safety.  The motel owners make sure the staff don't lift anything heavier.  It sounds like the guy who interviewed you was sexist.  Also in supermarkets I see women lifting heavy looking boxes e.g. stacking big boxes of Coke cans one on top of the other.  

Exactly right, I mean we can lift  

[Chortlepuss]

23 hours ago, Toots said:

I hope things have improved in the UK since this article was written.  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/age-discrimination-uk-work-old-jobs-women-equalities-committee-mps-a8450066.html   

 

I don’t think that the UK is particularly less ageist than Australia (although Queensland is a tough market). I found in the UK that there was more of a shortage of skilled workers and so they couldn’t necessarily be so picky - also change management/Project delivery was taken more seriously, so there was a preference for more experienced, resilient workers to get the job done. I lost out on an ICT change role in QLD last year to someone whose expertise was mostly busking, travelling and had previous role titles such as ‘inventor of things’. Sure, they were after a fun youngster rather than a person with 20 years solid ICT change experience - but that wasn’t how the role was advertised. In my experience, preference is always given to youth over experience in Queensland, even at the risk to delivering a successful project. I’ve been back to UK a couple of times in the last 13 years for contracts and my experience has always been a deciding factor for employers.

[bug family]

On 08/02/2020 at 16:29, Amber Snowball said:

I have not seen any age discrimination in health

Hi Amber, I have definitely seen age discrimination in health care here in Australia unfortunately,

The hospital that I work in (Perth region) recently they had an internal recruitment drive from the wards for the emergency dept, not one person over 30  got a look in, even though some of those nurses were highly experienced and would have been brilliant for the role; also, each year they run their grad program for new grad nurses, how many over 30's do you reckon they have taken on in the last 4 years in the emergency dept?....zero! not one. I also know of 'older nurses' 30's, 40's and 50's  who are told you need more experience to work in emergency, come back in 6 months please, mean while a bunch of twenty some things are welcomed on in with open arms, the attrition rate for the younger nurses is high and I reckon that is because (a) they possibly lack life experience and maturity (b) poor management,

Even the CN roles are usually only given to the younger nurses, the older ones are over looked, which I find strange as when you look at the traditional matron / sister role in the UK, it has always been held by those with not just experience but also age on their side as in more mature in age, what happens here in Aus seems to be the opposite and i think it sometimes shows in the level of care, I regularly see nurses with one eye on the patient and the other on their latest snap chat/twitter/facebook feed, not only is it not a good look and unprofessional it is also dangerous and bad mannered, how many of those more mature nurses do you think are guilty of this.... none as far as I have seen, I am not a nurse by the way, but work closely with the nursing team ....i think the icing on the cake for me was the young CN who told me how she likes to lie in her own urine when getting 'smashed' at the weekend as she cannot be bothered to get out of bed......this is a nurse in charge of an emergency department!!! ........ageism and nepotism are both encouraged in Australia in my opinion

 

[Amber Snowball]

1 hour ago, bug family said:

Hi Amber, I have definitely seen age discrimination in health care here in Australia unfortunately,

The hospital that I work in (Perth region) recently they had an internal recruitment drive from the wards for the emergency dept, not one person over 30  got a look in, even though some of those nurses were highly experienced and would have been brilliant for the role; also, each year they run their grad program for new grad nurses, how many over 30's do you reckon they have taken on in the last 4 years in the emergency dept?....zero! not one. I also know of 'older nurses' 30's, 40's and 50's  who are told you need more experience to work in emergency, come back in 6 months please, mean while a bunch of twenty some things are welcomed on in with open arms, the attrition rate for the younger nurses is high and I reckon that is because (a) they possibly lack life experience and maturity (b) poor management,

Even the CN roles are usually only given to the younger nurses, the older ones are over looked, which I find strange as when you look at the traditional matron / sister role in the UK, it has always been held by those with not just experience but also age on their side as in more mature in age, what happens here in Aus seems to be the opposite and i think it sometimes shows in the level of care, I regularly see nurses with one eye on the patient and the other on their latest snap chat/twitter/facebook feed, not only is it not a good look and unprofessional it is also dangerous and bad mannered, how many of those more mature nurses do you think are guilty of this.... none as far as I have seen, I am not a nurse by the way, but work closely with the nursing team ....i think the icing on the cake for me was the young CN who told me how she likes to lie in her own urine when getting 'smashed' at the weekend as she cannot be bothered to get out of bed......this is a nurse in charge of an emergency department!!! ........ageism and nepotism are both encouraged in Australia in my opinion

 

Ah, different areas of nursing to me. That’s a worrying picture. 

[Home and Happy]

On 08/02/2020 at 01:56, Chortlepuss said:

Part of me wishes that age discrimination was still legal! I remember as a 32 year old being told by my recruiter that I was too old to apply for a website development role. At least they were honest with me despite it being ridiculous. Now it is illegal to discriminate on age, you get the run around ‘too experienced’ ‘too expensive’ ‘not a good cultural fit’ etc... if companies were honest about age discrimination we could boycott them, name and shame and target employers who claim to be diverse in their recruitment practice. QLD government don’t even monitor age discrimination - as a major employer in Brisbane ageism isn’t seriously considered in their diversity strategy - so disappointing 

I had this happen a year or so after arriving in Perth in my mid 30s, told I was too old by a recruiter. I thought she was taking the mickey, but she was deadly serious. Thankfully Britain is much kind to older workers and job seekers.