Unsure whether to return to UK

[Cheery Thistle]

26 minutes ago, Tulip1 said:

Child subsidy giving 30 hours free for children over 3 isn’t the only help.  If a parent is on universal credit (which they would be if earning a low income) then they would be entitled to childcare help which can be up to 85% of the cost.  There is no minimum age for that to start.  Note that the poster may not qualify for universal credit for a while due to resident status but I think you were suggesting she’d have no childcare help until the child was three which isn’t correct.  As for rentals, they are high but it depends where she is moving to.  Some places are still quite cheap.  My worry is she would struggle to get a rental if not earning.  Most landlords won’t take people on benefits.  As you say, it’s hard enough getting a rental in the first place.  If you don’t have a secure job I’d imagine near impossible.  The council would have to house her somewhere as no mother with a newborn will be on the streets but it’s likely to be a B&B somewhere of low quality.  Again, not sure where the residency part comes in there. 

I should have qualified it with ‘there is no childcare subsidy for MOST working people’. 
There are universal credit and benefits calculators widely available online that the OP can access and tailor to her individual circumstances. I’m not sure that a life in a homeless hostel on Universal Credit is preferable to the OP’s current circumstances though. Bearing in mind if she sells her house in Aus for a profit she will also have to declare any savings and it will affect any benefits award too.   I think my mindset would first of all be ‘how can I help myself and be as independent as possible’ in this case rather than ‘what help can I get’. We all need agency over our own life and circumstances to be happy. 
Regarding rents this gives up to date stats and it does vary - average private rent is £900ish a month, social rent is £500ish but you’d really be at the mercy of the local council as to where they’d put you (if you were lucky enough to get a place). Really hoping OP could stay with family in the first instance. 
https://www.nimblefins.co.uk/business-insurance/landlord-insurance-uk/average-rent-uk

[tea4too]

To some extent it depends where the OP (or anyone thinking of MBTTUK) will be living, as devolved governments often operate differently, and even some local authorities will provide support or access to schemes not available in neighbouring postcodes. As a starting point the UK Government website is a mine of information and a useful tool as it helpfully sign posts alternative advice for people living in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. T x

Edited August 22, 2023 by tea4too

[Lomandra]

On 20/08/2023 at 20:29, Nemesis said:

Thats great, hope I didn't cause any offence but I know people who have been caught out by thinking "father" wasn't interested. 

My niece has just had a little girl through IVF, absolutely lovely baby, hope you are as happy when your time comes!  

No not at all you didnt cause offenders.  

Edited August 23, 2023 by Lomandra

[Lomandra]

Thank you for all the replies. Ideally I do not want to have to rely on benefits. I’ve always worked and it is not what I would want however realistically I know I may have to for a little while. If it wasn’t for my age I would have moved back to the UK first before getting pregnant but I felt that I needed to do that first but now I realise that was probably the worst decision but I can’t do anything about that now. 
Unfortunately I don’t have the option of staying with family as they don’t have the room so I would need to get a rental asap after moving over and I’d want to be settled before the baby is born. 
 

Does anyone know of any websites which have the steps you needed to take in logical order spelt out so it’s really straightforward. It seems so overwhelming that I don’t know where to start but I’m so unhappy over here that I want to go as soon as possible. 

[Marisawright]

1 hour ago, Lomandra said:

Does anyone know of any websites which have the steps you needed to take in logical order spelt out so it’s really straightforward. It seems so overwhelming that I don’t know where to start but I’m so unhappy over here that I want to go as soon as possible. 

You mean help with the move, or help with benefits?  I'm not aware of any websites that will help with the move.  

If it helps, here's what I would do (based on what we did for our move).  Note there are several things you can start doing right now, which will make you feel better psychologically because you've got the ball rolling, and then you'll feel committed and stop dithering.

1.  Make an appointment with your doctor or midwife to find out exactly what limitations you face on when you can fly.   That will set your latest possible deadline, but personally I'd urge you to move as soon as practical.  It took us about two months from getting the visa to getting on the plane, and that was comfortable as it was just the two of us (families often need longer). 
    
2. Buy some removalist boxes, start packing up your belongings and decluttering.  Don't think about the big picture, just start with one cupboard and go from there, a little every day.  You'll find there's lots of stuff you can live without for a few months, which you can pack now.  It will give you a feeling of progress, and your house will present better at inspections if you've cleared the decks, too.  Shipping is a complicated business and it would be worth your while to create a separate thread to ask for people's opinions on your best options.
    
3. Choose a real estate agent and put your house on the market.  (I wouldn't even consider keeping the house and renting it out. Too complicated, and you're going to need some of your equity to live on after you move).
    
4. Ask your family now, whether you can use their address as a mailing address, until you get settled.  Assuming they say yes, about a month before you move, notify your bank you'll be moving overseas and give them that address.  Don't put "c/o" in the address, just put your name and the street address as though it was your own home.  Once that's changed, request a printed bank statement.  The statement will be waiting for you when you arrive in the UK, and then you can use it as proof of address where needed (e.g. to register with a doctor, or open a UK bank account). 
    
5. It'll be expensive to have your mail redirected to the UK, so assuming your family agrees, change your address with every institution or individual you can think of, not just your bank.  If you wait till you have a permanent address in the UK, you'll be too busy.  Check your snail mail as it arrives, and see what you can do to avoid receiving any, e.g. cancel subscriptions, switch to email notifications where possible, change addresses.
    
6. If you're using an email address that's tied to your provider, e.g. bigpond or optus, open a gmail account immediately (or, if you prefer a private account, open one with Mailbox.org), and start getting all your contacts used to using your new email address.  Consider that some acquaintances may use your business email so you'll need to get them to switch, too. 
    
7. You'll need an Australian bank account and credit card for the first few months in the UK.  If your current bank account doesn't offer free overseas transactions on your debit card, change banks now to either HSBC or ING.  You can easily change your everyday current account to a new bank while leaving your mortgage and credit card with your existing bank. 
    
8. Mobile phone -- you'll need your Australian phone for a few weeks when you first arrive, and may need to keep it long-term if you use it to receive SMS verification codes on various accounts (including your bank account and superannuation account).   Note that if you can't get SMS verification, you may find yourself locked out of your bank accounts completely -- some banks don't have a workaround!! So it's worth changing your provider to one that has cheap international roaming for the long-term.  
    
9. Consider what you're going to do about your car.  If you don't use it every day, you could sell it early and then just use a service like GoGet until you leave. If you use it every day, you may need to look for one of those places that will buy your car on the day.  You may not get the best price but at least you'll have the use of it.   Take a printed copy of your no-claims bonus with you to the UK.

Obviously at some point you need to book flights, and a holiday let for a month, to give you time to look for a flat. 

Unfortunately there's nothing you can do to obtain a rental, open a bank account, or apply for benefits until you arrive.  Another reason not to leave things too late in your pregnancy, because you'll need to have energy in reserve for those very busy first weeks. 

Finally, once you have a real, permanent address in the UK, write to your superannuation fund to notify them you've left the country permanently.  Give them your new address and instruct them to cancel all insurances (they're probably not valid anyway). That will reduce your fees.  

Edited August 23, 2023 by Marisawright

[Cheery Thistle]

Some fab advice from Marisa above. The only thing I’d say is regarding the Airbnb you book for when you arrive. I would seriously book it for more than 1 month. It does depend on area, but if you want somewhere decent with access to transport, schools and employment opportunities then it will likely take longer than a month to secure somewhere. I cannot stress enough the level of housing crisis at the moment. I frequently receive messages from people or I’m tagged in Facebook posts with people who are totally desperate for rentals, have good references, jobs and guarantors and are struggling. 
If you could try and get your family to put out feelers for you now and see if they could secure something for you before you arrive that would definitely be better. I’d suggest you don’t want to be at the mercy of the council, you will literally be housed in a homeless hostel or similar. 
Just one wee word of caution as well - you say family don’t have space for you. Now, I am not close to my family, not really. I see one of my brothers a few times a year and my other 2 siblings at weddings and funerals! However, if I was pregnant and returning from thousands of miles away alone, I know my brother would put me up for a few months if I really needed it (which you do). I also have an aunt and uncle who would make space for me and a really good friend who would. You are moving and uprooting your life to be closer to these people, just make sure that your affection and connection is reciprocated or it could be quite a sore one. 
Unfortunately if you have over £16k in savings from the proceeds of your house sale, I think you won’t qualify for benefits except Child benefit (about £100 a month). 
I am attaching a couple of screenshots regarding rentals - one is from the online rental portal when we advertised a 2 bed flat in July this year, and one from the mother of our new tenant. We are in central Scotland so probably not the most sought after UK location and it’s still really really grim! 

[Nemesis]

Great list from Marisa. 

I would add from my own experience that its not impossible to rent before arrival, and even if you decide to wait its worth signing up with Rightmove and Primelocation to get emails for the area you are looking at, gives you an idea whats out there, and if something looks good its worth emailing the agent and explaining the circumstances, especially if someone in your family is prepared to do a viewing for you. Agents are becoming increasingly open to renting like this, or by doing videos on whatsapp or facetime - one good thing to come out of covid I think. 

Regarding your 'snail mail' - if you think you may get things after you have eft, and have a friend you can trust, set up a short term domestic redirection, for maybe 3-4 months. They can then open the mail for you and send you a photo or scan of whatever arrives - I did this when I left and it was handy as even a couple of places which had my UK address kept sending stuff to my Aussie one! (one of these helpful maybe was my old estate agent, who kept sending stuff to the address they had already re-let to someone else!)

[Marisawright]

36 minutes ago, Cheery Thistle said:

I am attaching a couple of screenshots regarding rentals - one is from the online rental portal when we advertised a 2 bed flat in July this year, and one from the mother of our new tenant. We are in central Scotland so probably not the most sought after UK location and it’s still really really grim! 

 

I would just suggest that the OP checks out the rental situation in the area she's moving to.   Central Scotland may not be a 'sought after' UK location but that can sometimes cause a worse rental crisis, because although there are fewer people wanting to move there, there's also few investors interested in buying flats to let out. We see the same thing in country Australia, where there's very little demand so you'd think it would be easy to find a place to rent;  but because it's not so profitable, very few people build or invest in property to let out. 

https://myurbanjungle.com/explore/blog/a-guide-to-average-rent-prices-in-the-uk-2023

Edited August 23, 2023 by Marisawright

[Nemesis]

33 minutes ago, Cheery Thistle said:

Just one wee word of caution as well - you say family don’t have space for you. Now, I am not close to my family, not really. I see one of my brothers a few times a year and my other 2 siblings at weddings and funerals! However, if I was pregnant and returning from thousands of miles away alone, I know my brother would put me up for a few months if I really needed it (which you do). I also have an aunt and uncle who would make space for me and a really good friend who would. You are moving and uprooting your life to be closer to these people, just make sure that your affection and connection is reciprocated or it could be quite a sore one. 

Oh for a family like that! Mine were more interested in me when I lived in Oz, and there's no way they would have put me up when I got home. In fact I was even told not to even consider using their address for any shipping or mail forwarding. When I go and visit them I have to stay in a hotel and get a taxi out to their place, which is pretty remote about 10 miles from the nearest town. And yes, they do have plenty of space for visitors!! Nowt so queer as families. 

[Cheery Thistle]

46 minutes ago, Nemesis said:

Oh for a family like that! Mine were more interested in me when I lived in Oz, and there's no way they would have put me up when I got home. In fact I was even told not to even consider using their address for any shipping or mail forwarding. When I go and visit them I have to stay in a hotel and get a taxi out to their place, which is pretty remote about 10 miles from the nearest town. And yes, they do have plenty of space for visitors!! Nowt so queer as families. 

Well to be honest, I wouldn’t bother in that case. I’m now in my 40’s and I think hormones must be kicking in - my tolerance level for that kind of BS is now extremely low. Not that I was ever one to suffer fools really! 

[Cheery Thistle]

54 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

I would just suggest that the OP checks out the rental situation in the area she's moving to.   Central Scotland may not be a 'sought after' UK location but that can sometimes cause a worse rental crisis, because although there are fewer people wanting to move there, there's also few investors interested in buying flats to let out. We see the same thing in country Australia, where there's very little demand so you'd think it would be easy to find a place to rent;  but because it's not so profitable, very few people build or invest in property to let out. 

https://myurbanjungle.com/explore/blog/a-guide-to-average-rent-prices-in-the-uk-2023

Yeah that’s not what’s happening. I mean we are in between Edinburgh and Glasgow, not the back of beyond, and in areas where transport links are good etc.  The flat related to the screenshots above is a 2 bed in Edinburgh west, so not an undesirable area where people don’t want to invest. 
You may not be aware but the UK govt has mounted a sustained attack on private landlords over the past 5 years or so - taxation regime has been changed to penalise them and legislation to protect tenants tightened hugely. If a landlord tries to evict a tenant (for legitimate reasons) the council now tell them to stay put until it goes to a tribunal (could take 2 years) meanwhile landlord is getting no rent. In Scotland we can no longer put rent up (or only very minimally) during an existing tenancy despite exponentially rising interest rates and other costs. When you put this together with the huge increases in net migration, it really is the perfect storm. Private landlords are exiting the market in big numbers, thus reducing the supply of homes available for rent even further. 
https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/23473103.scotland-rental-market-warning-landlords-look-sell-property/

[Lomandra]

8 hours ago, Marisawright said:

You mean help with the move, or help with benefits?  I'm not aware of any websites that will help with the move.  

If it helps, here's what I would do (based on what we did for our move).  Note there are several things you can start doing right now, which will make you feel better psychologically because you've got the ball rolling, and then you'll feel committed and stop dithering.

1.  Make an appointment with your doctor or midwife to find out exactly what limitations you face on when you can fly.   That will set your latest possible deadline, but personally I'd urge you to move as soon as practical.  It took us about two months from getting the visa to getting on the plane, and that was comfortable as it was just the two of us (families often need longer). 
    
2. Buy some removalist boxes, start packing up your belongings and decluttering.  Don't think about the big picture, just start with one cupboard and go from there, a little every day.  You'll find there's lots of stuff you can live without for a few months, which you can pack now.  It will give you a feeling of progress, and your house will present better at inspections if you've cleared the decks, too.  Shipping is a complicated business and it would be worth your while to create a separate thread to ask for people's opinions on your best options.
    
3. Choose a real estate agent and put your house on the market.  (I wouldn't even consider keeping the house and renting it out. Too complicated, and you're going to need some of your equity to live on after you move).
    
4. Ask your family now, whether you can use their address as a mailing address, until you get settled.  Assuming they say yes, about a month before you move, notify your bank you'll be moving overseas and give them that address.  Don't put "c/o" in the address, just put your name and the street address as though it was your own home.  Once that's changed, request a printed bank statement.  The statement will be waiting for you when you arrive in the UK, and then you can use it as proof of address where needed (e.g. to register with a doctor, or open a UK bank account). 
    
5. It'll be expensive to have your mail redirected to the UK, so assuming your family agrees, change your address with every institution or individual you can think of, not just your bank.  If you wait till you have a permanent address in the UK, you'll be too busy.  Check your snail mail as it arrives, and see what you can do to avoid receiving any, e.g. cancel subscriptions, switch to email notifications where possible, change addresses.
    
6. If you're using an email address that's tied to your provider, e.g. bigpond or optus, open a gmail account immediately (or, if you prefer a private account, open one with Mailbox.org), and start getting all your contacts used to using your new email address.  Consider that some acquaintances may use your business email so you'll need to get them to switch, too. 
    
7. You'll need an Australian bank account and credit card for the first few months in the UK.  If your current bank account doesn't offer free overseas transactions on your debit card, change banks now to either HSBC or ING.  You can easily change your everyday current account to a new bank while leaving your mortgage and credit card with your existing bank. 
    
8. Mobile phone -- you'll need your Australian phone for a few weeks when you first arrive, and may need to keep it long-term if you use it to receive SMS verification codes on various accounts (including your bank account and superannuation account).   Note that if you can't get SMS verification, you may find yourself locked out of your bank accounts completely -- some banks don't have a workaround!! So it's worth changing your provider to one that has cheap international roaming for the long-term.  
    
9. Consider what you're going to do about your car.  If you don't use it every day, you could sell it early and then just use a service like GoGet until you leave. If you use it every day, you may need to look for one of those places that will buy your car on the day.  You may not get the best price but at least you'll have the use of it.   Take a printed copy of your no-claims bonus with you to the UK.

Obviously at some point you need to book flights, and a holiday let for a month, to give you time to look for a flat. 

Unfortunately there's nothing you can do to obtain a rental, open a bank account, or apply for benefits until you arrive.  Another reason not to leave things too late in your pregnancy, because you'll need to have energy in reserve for those very busy first weeks. 

Finally, once you have a real, permanent address in the UK, write to your superannuation fund to notify them you've left the country permanently.  Give them your new address and instruct them to cancel all insurances (they're probably not valid anyway). That will reduce your fees.  

Thank you so much for such a comprehensive plan! You mentioned things that I hadn't even considered but it's those practicalities and little things that I guess turn out to be big things if you don't do them. I will start looking into this, step by step and seeing if I can do it!

 

[Lomandra]

I am ideally moving to Yorkshire, that's the plan anyway as that's where my family are.

The move isn't only because of family. Yes, my parents are getting older and not in good health and I want my child to grow up with family around. My brother and his wife have a 9 month old so it would be nice for my baby to have a cousin to play with, etc but a huge part is that I just don't enjoy living over here anymore. I really don't like how the country is going and I've been unhappy over here for years. 

My parents don't have the space - their house is like a hoarder's house- and certainly not enough room for me, let alone a baby. My Auntie has a tiny flat and whilst I've stayed with her a couple of weeks when I've been for visits I think it would be a lot to ask for her (and her husband) to let me and a newborn stay. I've been saying to her for ages now I'm unhappy here and want to move back and she repeatedly tells me I shouldn't so...

I asked a friend about rentals earlier today who is over there and her husband has an estate agents and she said that it's a really bad time with finding rentals. I've had a look on right move though and there seem to be a few but I guess that they would have lots of people applying for the one place and a single mother on benefits isn't exactly going to be top pick!!!

One of my thoughts today, I have so many going round my head, was that maybe I see if I can buy a small flat over there from Aus and then I'd have somewhere to live when I go over and a stable place for the first few months of baby. Has anyone bought a house in England from over here and was it doable? 

[Cheery Thistle]

1 hour ago, Lomandra said:

but a huge part is that I just don't enjoy living over here anymore. I really don't like how the country is going and I've been unhappy over here for years. 

As someone on the verge of making the move in the opposite direction, can I ask what it is that you don’t like and how is the country going? We might find some common themes Aus/UK!! 
 

I think buying something would be really good actually, if budget allows. Are you thinking to buy outright, without a mortgage? 

Edited August 23, 2023 by Cheery Thistle

[Marisawright]

1 hour ago, Lomandra said:

... see if I can buy a small flat over there from Aus and then I'd have somewhere to live when I go over and a stable place for the first few months of baby. Has anyone bought a house in England from over here and was it doable? 

If you trust a member of your family to inspect properties and choose something that's suitable for you, it's doable.  Otherwise, if you Google "buyer's agent Yorkshire", you'll find there are quite a few.  Perhaps you could contact some of them and discuss their services and how practical they think it is.  Once upon a time I'd have said it was too risky, but these days when they can send you detailed videos of the properties, maybe it's not so out of the question.  

I think it would be much, much too risky to contact ordinary real estate agents yourself, even your friend's husband.  They have their sellers' interests at heart.  You need either to get a family member or pay a professional whose reputation relies on doing a good job for property buyers.   

[Marisawright]

49 minutes ago, Cheery Thistle said:

As someone on the verge of making the move in the opposite direction, can I ask what it is that you don’t like and how is the country going? We might find some common themes Aus/UK!!

I've sen Lomandra's posts before and I'd venture to say she's just one of those people who are so attached to their homeland, they can never feel truly happy living anywhere else.  The Welsh call it "hiraeth".  For those afflicted with it, Australia could be a paradise and it would make no difference.  Their yearning for home colours their entire view of their new country, and the more stuck they feel, the more negative their opinion becomes. 

We've had many, many members on PomsinOz who've felt like that, which is why I'm fairly confident in diagnosing it.  I talk as if people "suffer" from hireath but actually, I suspect it's actually normal for the majority of the human race.  Nomads like me, people who can hop on a plane with barely a backward glance and happily transfer their affections to a brand new country, are the minority.  I guess that's why most people don't ever migrate.

[Marisawright]

@Cheery Thistle, this article is relevant in regards to how is the country going.  My impression is that Australia is doing better than the UK on several fronts, but one negative stands out -- housing affordability.   I believe people consider it's bad in the UK but the table in this article shows how very much worse it is in Oz.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2023/08/23/australian-capitals-among-least-affordable-property-markets/

Of course when house prices are high, so are rents. Just look at the ratio for Edinburgh compared to Melbourne and even Brisbane.

Edited August 23, 2023 by Marisawright

[Cheery Thistle]

9 hours ago, Marisawright said:

@Cheery Thistle, this article is relevant in regards to how is the country going.  My impression is that Australia is doing better than the UK on several fronts, but one negative stands out -- housing affordability.   I believe people consider it's bad in the UK but the table in this article shows how very much worse it is in Oz.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2023/08/23/australian-capitals-among-least-affordable-property-markets/

Of course when house prices are high, so are rents. Just look at the ratio for Edinburgh compared to Melbourne and even Brisbane.

Yes that’s a bit off-topic and is true but the point I was making was really in regard to private landlords in the UK being hounded out of the market by incoherent government policy, leading to a lack of rentals which will likely impact the OP if they need to try and rent, not anything to do with rents or affordability.  This issue has been compounded by record high net inbound migration and rising interest rates (similar to Australia). There are many threads debating costs of living, salaries and affordability UK vs Aus, I don’t think we need to turn this into one of them. 

[InnerVoice]

On 23/08/2023 at 22:00, Cheery Thistle said:

As someone on the verge of making the move in the opposite direction, can I ask what it is that you don’t like and how is the country going? We might find some common themes Aus/UK!!

 

On 24/08/2023 at 17:25, Cheery Thistle said:

There are many threads debating costs of living, salaries and affordability UK vs Aus, I don’t think we need to turn this into one of them. 

I think if you ask the former then you will inevitably start a debate about the latter 

[InnerVoice]

On 24/08/2023 at 07:42, Marisawright said:

@Cheery Thistle, this article is relevant in regards to how is the country going.  My impression is that Australia is doing better than the UK on several fronts, but one negative stands out -- housing affordability.   I believe people consider it's bad in the UK but the table in this article shows how very much worse it is in Oz.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2023/08/23/australian-capitals-among-least-affordable-property-markets/

Of course when house prices are high, so are rents. Just look at the ratio for Edinburgh compared to Melbourne and even Brisbane.

As you'd expect, the most unaffordable places are those also considered the most desirable places to live, but when you look at the regional locations listed the median multiple is around 4 to 5, which is relatively affordable for two adults on average incomes. The big difference is that there are a lot of pleasant places to live in regional UK (I'd go as far to say that most are nicer than UK cities), whereas the same cannot be said of regional Australia. I can probably count the places on the finger of one hand that I'd want to live in Australia that weren't in or near a major city.

[Cheery Thistle]

6 hours ago, InnerVoice said:

 

I think if you ask the former then you will inevitably start a debate about the latter 

Yip, I just didn’t think it was going to be particularly helpful to the OP to go off on that tangent. 
I think you should come back and see how regional UK is looking post-Brexit and Covid. Not that the cities are faring much better either actually! I suppose when you think about it, you’re never really that far from a major city in the UK. 

[Marisawright]

6 minutes ago, Cheery Thistle said:

 I suppose when you think about it, you’re never really that far from a major city in the UK. 

Yes, I think that's the point.  In the UK, it's possible to live quite rural and still be within commutable distance of a reasonable city, whereas that's not possible in, say, Sydney or Melbourne because it takes more than two hours to get from one side of the city to the other.

[InnerVoice]

11 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

Yes, I think that's the point.  In the UK, it's possible to live quite rural and still be within commutable distance of a reasonable city, whereas that's not possible in, say, Sydney or Melbourne because it takes more than two hours to get from one side of the city to the other.

Not to mention there are huge swathes of Australia that are either uninhabitable or so sparsely populated that what little community exists offers little social cohesion. Geographically, Australia may be a continent, but in reality it's a land-based archipelago where you tend to spend most of you time on your own 'island'.

[InnerVoice]

41 minutes ago, Cheery Thistle said:

Yip, I just didn’t think it was going to be particularly helpful to the OP to go off on that tangent. 
I think you should come back and see how regional UK is looking post-Brexit and Covid. Not that the cities are faring much better either actually! I suppose when you think about it, you’re never really that far from a major city in the UK. 

I'm sure that the grass is just as green, the hills are just as cloudy, the mills are still satanic, and the cows are happy based on the amount of mooing they do. That's how I view regional UK. I appreciate that the economy is on the backfoot over there but what do you expect? You can't pay millions of people to sit on their backsides for the best part of two years without economic consequences, and we're feeling the pinch over here too. Unfortunately it's payback time!

If the OP is able to return to the UK with a reasonable sum of money then she might be able to buy a property, or at least have enough to get a deposit. In that case the disparity between her AUS and UK salary wouldn't matter so much, just as long as she's able to keep on top of her monthly bills. Given that she's already decided to move back, it's really just a numbers game to try and get the best start for her and her little one. I wish her well.

[Cheery Thistle]

2 hours ago, InnerVoice said:

I'm sure that the grass is just as green, the hills are just as cloudy, the mills are still satanic, and the cows are happy based on the amount of mooing they do. That's how I view regional UK. I appreciate that the economy is on the backfoot over there but what do you expect? You can't pay millions of people to sit on their backsides for the best part of two years without economic consequences, and we're feeling the pinch over here too. Unfortunately it's payback time!

If the OP is able to return to the UK with a reasonable sum of money then she might be able to buy a property, or at least have enough to get a deposit. In that case the disparity between her AUS and UK salary wouldn't matter so much, just as long as she's able to keep on top of her monthly bills. Given that she's already decided to move back, it's really just a numbers game to try and get the best start for her and her little one. I wish her well.

This is literally a hilarious view of ‘regional UK’. Regional rural UK maybe. I think the key point here is exactly what you said - this is how you view regional UK. It’s your view. And with the greatest respect in the world, it’s not an up to date view. You haven’t been here to see it for quite some time. 

Totally agree that if OP can buy something outright with no mortgage that would be perfect and might be just about doable. Still, £23k nets to about £1600 a month and it’s not a lot to run a home and pay for a child, especially if you need a car (I’m assuming in Yorkshire that’s likely). That’s all I’m saying, approach with caution. Just being realistic, not negative. In some ways the OP would be better off if she had no cash behind her - the universal credit calculators are quite opening, give it a go and you’ll see. I also hope it works out for Lamondra and wish her the best. 

Not everybody ‘sat on their backsides’ for 2 years. Many frontline workers were out working and many others (myself included) were trying to work from home and home school young children at the same time. It was not a holiday. It’s quite clear that you didn’t live through the hell of a UK lockdown.