Moving back to England

[kateet67]

I emigrated to Australia in 1988 after falling in love with an Aussie and marrying him. It was a hard to decide which country to stay in but decided Australia was the best. After 30 years of marriage my husband left me, bless him.

My daughter and I have decided to move back to England to be with my parents as they’re not getting any younger. I’m very nervous as being 54 I worry about work. I’m leaving a good job here and that’s what made my decision even harder.

I’m after any advice to make the transition smoother. Transferring money. Shipping items over. Finding jobs etc….

Any help will be greatly appreciated 

[Marisawright]

One good thing is that age discrimination isn't nearly as bad in England as it is in Australia. Of course, I don't know what effect Covid has had on the job market, but at least you don't have the extra worry of employers writing you off as "too old", as they so often do in Australia. 

First, decide what stuff you want to ship.  At the very least, you'll need to ship a few boxes of personal effects.  Shipping boxes works out expensive, so it's usually more cost-effective to use a Movecube. https://www.sevenseasworldwide.com/moving/movecube

They come in a choice of three sizes.  They're designed for you to pack yourself but they do have the option to pay someone else to pack it for you.  If you want to ship a houseful, then you'll need to get quotes from shipping companies for a shared container or a container instead.

When deciding what's worth packing, it's tempting to get rid of all your old stuff thinking it's not worth the cost of shipping - but it's not as simple as that.  Just pretend you're about to move into your new home in the UK and you brought nothing with you.  So now you have to buy pots, pans, utensils, towels, sheets, cutlery, crockery, white goods, kitchen appliances,  tools, hoover, all in the space of a week or two. Plus all your furniture.  Forget choosing a sofa you really like, you end up having to grab whatever's available, and then you're stuck with it until you can afford to replace it!  

If you think about it, you can probably manage to "camp" in your own home here in Oz - maybe keep your beds, some outdoor furniture and some kitchen stuff - so you can ship your belongings off a few weeks ahead of you, to reduce the length of time you have to "camp" at the other end. 

Transferring money:  easy. Open an account with Moneycorp or Transferwise and use it to transfer money between your Australian and British bank accounts.  Never transfer straight from bank to bank because the banks charge too much.

It's worth taking a look at your Australian bank, and be prepared to change banks to one that offers low (or no) fees on international transactions, because you'll need to use your Australian debit and credit cards for several weeks when you first arrive, until you can get a British bank account that works.  Actually, the banks will happily take your money the day you arrive, but then they won't let you withdraw a cent until you can prove you have a permanent British residential address, and even then they'll insist on posting you a card (which takes another week!).  

[Parley]

Trouble is if you retire back in England after 30 years away you may not qualify for the State Pension.

Can you afford to self fund your retirement with no government support ?

Edited August 1, 2021 by Parley

[Marisawright]

1 hour ago, Parley said:

Trouble is if you retire back in England after 30 years away you may not qualify for the State Pension.

Can you afford to self fund your retirement with no government support ?

This is a good point, because you need at least 10 years'  NI contributions to qualify for even the smallest pro rata pension in the UK.

However, it doesn't need to be 10 years in a row.  if you get moving NOW, you would have another 10 years' working life to make NI contributions, plus the years you spent in the UK before you left.  I don't know if you'd be able to backpay missing years or not, it would be worth enquiring.  

You may not be aware that if you leave Australia before you reach pension age, you won't be able to claim the Australian government pension. Which means you either move now and rely on building up the British pension, or stick it out in Australia until whatever the pension age is for you (which, the way they're going, would be 70). 

The other alternative is to move to the UK now, enjoy the time you have with your parents, but plan to move back to Australia when you get to the point where you need the Aussie pension to shore up your savings.  If you move back, you can claim your Australian pension as soon as you arrive (but then you have to stay in Australia for at least 2 years, or they take it away again).

[kateet67]

Thank you both so much. There is some very useful information there. My superannuation people here said I still qualify to receive it over there but it will be taxed. Hopefully I can get a good 10 years of work over there too! 
I really appreciate your time. I’ll let you know how I go

[Parley]

Just now, kateet67 said:

Thank you both so much. There is some very useful information there. My superannuation people here said I still qualify to receive it over there but it will be taxed. Hopefully I can get a good 10 years of work over there too! 
I really appreciate your time. I’ll let you know how I go

Yes that is your Superannuation. We were referring to the Centrelink Age Pension equivalent in the UK which you probably won't be able to get.

But if you have plenty of Super you can live off that,

It comes down to how much money you would have left after buying a home. The Age Pension can be a good safety net if you run out of money.

[kateet67]

Oh yes that’s true…. I know financially I’ll be better off staying here and I’m sure I’ll lose any pension that I may be entitled too but hopefully it will work out

[Marisawright]

1 hour ago, kateet67 said:

Thank you both so much. There is some very useful information there. My superannuation people here said I still qualify to receive it over there but it will be taxed. Hopefully I can get a good 10 years of work over there too! 
I really appreciate your time. I’ll let you know how I go

Yes you will, as Parley says it's the Australian government pension we're talking about.  Like I say, you will become eligible to get the British govt pension so it's worth looking into that when you get there, to see if you can backpay some extra years' NI contributions which will boost that pension.   Once you get to retirement you realise that every little helps!

[newjez]

10 hours ago, kateet67 said:

I emigrated to Australia in 1988 after falling in love with an Aussie and marrying him. It was a hard to decide which country to stay in but decided Australia was the best. After 30 years of marriage my husband left me, bless him.

My daughter and I have decided to move back to England to be with my parents as they’re not getting any younger. I’m very nervous as being 54 I worry about work. I’m leaving a good job here and that’s what made my decision even harder.

I’m after any advice to make the transition smoother. Transferring money. Shipping items over. Finding jobs etc….

Any help will be greatly appreciated 

You daughters age may be relevant too. You may need her father's permission to leave if she is under age 

[Quoll]

17 hours ago, Parley said:

Trouble is if you retire back in England after 30 years away you may not qualify for the State Pension.

Can you afford to self fund your retirement with no government support ?

Doesn't the period 1988-2002 living and working in Australia count towards contributions? That was when we had the reciprocal agreement. 

[Parley]

13 minutes ago, Quoll said:

Doesn't the period 1988-2002 living and working in Australia count towards contributions? That was when we had the reciprocal agreement. 

I don't think so but happy to be corrected.

You have to make 10 years of National Insurance contributions to qualify. Australia does not seem to be listed as a country that is exempt from this.

https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/living-and-working-overseas

 

[Marisawright]

2 hours ago, Parley said:

I don't think so but happy to be corrected.

You are half right, and thanks @Quoll for reminding me.

@kateet67, before you go, make sure you collect evidence of your employment for the whole period you worked in Australia.  Once you are settled in the UK, go along to the Job Centre, and put in a claim for the years you worked up until the year 2000.   You will get NI credits for those years, which will boost your UK pension. 

You can only get those credits while you're legally resident in the UK.

[kateet67]

18 hours ago, newjez said:

You daughters age may be relevant too. You may need her father's permission to leave if she is under age 

All good… she’s 26 and has a British Passport