Payout when baby born??

HI Ladies,

Just talking to a friend and she has heard that when baby is born that the government gives you a payout of 2-3000 dollars. I know in Australia they do but cant find any information in NZ about it. Anyone know of anything???

How much xtra do you get for 2 kids Lyla????

nah i dont think they offer it in nz - they do it in Japan (thats about 7000 you get there) and Oz but most countries dont do it - it just depends on the policy of the government. I think here we get "paid" maternity leave in lieu of a payout - at around 300 a week for 14 weeks it works out to be about the same...

I think the only extra NZers can get when Baby arrives is the $1200 Child Tax Credit if you qualify (which we didn't with Josiah, as Nathaniel was a student, but we do qualify this time!)

Family assistance goes up a bit from one to two kids... and goes up heaps once #3 arrives!

Edited by becca.l

we get a pay out of up to $1200 depending on what your household earns but never heared of it beening 2-3000 you go to IRD and they give you the information.

Yep, in NZ we either get a parental tax credit or paid parental leave, whichever is the greater of the two. Have a look at the ird website...

In Oz it has just gone up to $4000. But they have to pay for a lot of their healthcare for children, where as here in NZ a lot of healthcare for children is free. My best friend got a payout of $3000 in Oz but then they had to put it a side as their daughter was born with a cleft palate and it was going to cost them that much for the op to fix it. Whereas here in NZ my caosin has just had an op for his cleft palate and it was pretty much free.

I was told you can apply for both at one of my antenatal classes, but they (ird) obviously won't tell you that, but my understanding was that you were only eligable for one or the other.

The $3-4000 is only done in Aussie I'm afraid, as the other ladies have mentioned. It's also true that you can apply for both the parental tax credit and paid parental leave, but are only eligible for one or the other - it's easy enough to work out which one would be greater and then just apply for that. I only *just* qualified for the 14 weeks paid entitlement, then had to do a fair bit of pushing and prodding to get my work to offer me a part time variation on my contract when the paid leave finishes at 15 hours a week (3x 5hr shifts on a 7 day roster). We still might change our minds and I could resign from work (I would have to) to spent the first year off completely with bubs, but we're still not 100% sure either and will have to see how it goes. It only just occurred to me that I had some time in lieu stashed away (from working stat holidays) as well as a bit of annual leave, and am trying to find out how much of it I could use up and stick on the the 'front' of my maternity leave... which basically means I would finish two weeks earlier than planned without losing any money (and would give me more time at home before bubs is due). The other kicker though is that even on one income we're not eligible for any kind of assistance, so BOOO the government