Working for Family’s vs Maternity Leave
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Category: General Chat
Forum Name: General Chat
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URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=15259
Printed Date: 01 October 2025 at 7:08pm
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Topic: Working for Family’s vs Maternity Leave
Posted By: Dani01
Subject: Working for Family’s vs Maternity Leave
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 9:47am
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Hey Ladies,
Just wondering what everyone prefers, or what everyone thinks is better than the other, which one you can normally collect more on? - I'm can't seem to get the right question out!!! lol I'm one of those bimbo's that thought you got your normaly pay if you went on Maternity leave, NOT the case hahaha, looks like i will be taking quite a big pay cut if i do that. Anyway's will be great to have all your opinions, THANKS! 
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Replies:
Posted By: ElfsMum
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 9:56am
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you really dont get a much of choice.. either you take maternity leave(which works out 4000) because you can...or you cant (like me i finished work at 20 weeks) and you get the other one (which is 150 for 8 weeks...its muccccccch less so go for maternity pay if you can. ! (and watch out if you ring IRD for advice they gave me the wrong advice so we didnt get paid for a few weeks:( ------------- Mum to two amazing boys! |
Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 10:00am
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The 2 things are for completely different purposes..
WWF is like money you get every week depending on income and how many are in your family. Whether you are working or not, though someone in your family must be working a certain amount of hours a week to get this. Maternity leave is completely seperate. When you go on matenity leave you can choose to get weekly payments for 14 weeks or to take a lump sum of $1200. If you are working full time now, paid maternity leave works out much more than the lump sum. ML is approx $300 a week (for 14 weeks) or whatever your income is now per week - they take whichever is the lowest. |
Posted By: cuppatea
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 10:02am
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Yeah I took maternity leave, you have to be able to work up until at least 34 weeks though so you need to assess weather you are in a job where that will be possible or whether you have enough annual leave/sick pay to go earlier if necessary. I left at 32 weeks and took annual leave to cover it. There is also a bulk payment rather than the weekly payment but i think that only works out better if you earn less than the maternity pay entitlement. I.e if you only worked 10hours at minimum wage then taking the one off payment would work out better than the maternity pay. The other thing is that your aren't automatically entitled to the full amount only up to what you earn or the full amount if you earn more. (which most people do cos its a joke what they pay out).
Anyway hope some of that waffle helps ------------- 
 
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Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 10:03am
You don't HAVE to work until 34 weeks. I didn't.. but that may depend on your job. I only had a desk job though but finished at 33 weeks and my payments still started on time 
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Posted By: cuppatea
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 10:09am
Yeah I suppose you could take unpaid leave, I just meant the earliest they will pay out is 34 weeks so you would need to be covered financially in the meantime. Probably should have worded that better -------------
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Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 10:10am
| Nah mine wasn't unpaid or annual leave (I had already used all that up lol). And my maternity leave payments started straight away. I was still 33weeks when the first one came through. |
Posted By: hooper
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 10:26am
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i was the same, just had to arrange it with boss. ------------- Desiree 
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Posted By: WRXnKids
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 12:06pm
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My maternity leave payments started when i reached my due date and i get the full amount which is paid fortnightly $630 something. I finished at 34 weeks and used holiday pay and savings until my payments started. Come april i am going to go for WFF as in the new financial year i will be entitled to a weekly payment as its based on yearly earnings so with neither of us working at this stage until i go back to work which will make my earnings really low i think we should be entitled to about $310 a week (based on the calculators) then i think we just keep informing them if our situation changes and we earn more or less ie if DP decides to work again so i assume they will adjust the payments as it suits. My advise is if you are entitled to Maternity Leave take it then go for Working for Families when it runs out. -------------   
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Posted By: minik8e
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 3:16pm
| Just a question that is slightly on topic but also slightly off topic....can you use annual leave through your work to top up your PPL payments to an amount equivalent to what you were earning?? |
Posted By: AliaDawn
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 3:26pm
That WFF number sounds pretty off - You only get the in-work payment if someone is working 30+ hours a week, and that's $120 per fortnight, and the tax credit is $164 per fortnite, so if I understand you're not working that's only $82 per week... even if you add in accomodation supplement, it still wouldn't add up to $310. You can only get the $150 a week payment for 8 weeks, and i'm not sure if you can get it if you are on Maternity leave. I hate the ird/winz sites - they're really hard to find your way around.. but it's worth double checking so you don't end up with a nasty surprise right? Plus if you earn a decent income in the later part of the year and go over the thresholds you'll end up owing them money. -------------  
 
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wrxchic wrote:Posted By: minik8e
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 3:49pm
| I think it refers to the PPL amount rather than WFF amount Alia. |
Posted By: AliaDawn
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 4:01pm
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I hope so - but it would still not be $310 unless she's adding something else in there. It might look like it though if you didn't realise the $164 was fortnightly not weekly though.
Anyway I'm probably wrong... feeling sick and yuck so feel free to ignore me  -------------
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Posted By: mamawendz
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 4:44pm
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Ok I just filled in my forms this week so lets see if I can understand/explain it clearly..
You can chose between: "Paid Parental Leave" (max $391 before tax - 14 weeks) "Parental Tax Credit" (max $150 - 8 weeks PTC is better if you A.) Earn less than $20,350k B.) Having a multiple birth or C.) Taking less than 14 weeks leave after birth. If you answered no to all of these, then PPL is much better for you and you get more money. Working for Families Tax Credits can be received on-top of Maternity Leave and depends on your total income for that financial year. For example, I will be getting PPL for 14 weeks plus our Family Tax Credit payments. When my PPL payments end, I will continue to receive Family Tax Credit payments. Does that make sense? Does anyone disagree? This is just how I have interpreted it and have arranged for things to go. (I finish next week YAY!!) ------------- mama_wendz  My Girls: Maddisyn Tylr & Layla-Mei Virginia
My Baby Boy: Noah Aotearoa
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Posted By: Kels
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 5:57pm
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Exactly what mamawendz said. I got paid my WFF while receiving my ML payments the only difference was that when I finished up at work the inwork payment component was taken out of the WFF. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
Busy mum to Miss 15yrs, Miss 10yrs and Master 4yrs |
Posted By: Maya
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 7:23pm
I agree. I have a 'low' income as I claim expenses against it, and DP is on a lowish income, and we only get $196 per week and that's with 3 kids. ------------- Maya Grace (28/02/03)
 (02/01/06)
The Gremlins:Sienna Marie & Mercedes Kailah (14/10/06)
Lil miss:Chiara Louise Chloe (09/07/08)
Her ladyship:Rosalia Sophie Anais (18/06/12)
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Posted By: Maya
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 7:24pm
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Oh and to answer the OP's question, we took PTC instead of PPL after I had the gremlins as with two babies it worked out as more. ------------- Maya Grace (28/02/03)
(02/01/06)
The Gremlins:Sienna Marie & Mercedes Kailah (14/10/06)
Lil miss:Chiara Louise Chloe (09/07/08)
Her ladyship:Rosalia Sophie Anais (18/06/12)
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Posted By: Bubbaloo
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 8:37pm
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wrxchic the calculaters on the ird website do weird thing with both me and my partner working full time they said that we would receive $400 which is totally wrong.
The way that mamawendz wrote it sounds pretty right to me. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">  Was danni-chick Mum to James My Angel 28/07/08 |
Posted By: Dani01
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 9:00pm
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Wow. Thanks for all the responses.
If you talk to Work and Income, do they help you out quite a bit, or say no this is best and do this and that? (if you know what I mean) When abouts do you start filling out the forms and everything? |
Posted By: Bombshell
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 9:06pm
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ugh i only got the parental leave and wasnt entitled to anything else....what DO i pay taxes for??? I dont even get cheap daycare...
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Posted By: Maya
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 9:10pm
Gotta love expenses, we qualify for childcare subsidy too  ------------- Maya Grace (28/02/03)
(02/01/06)
The Gremlins:Sienna Marie & Mercedes Kailah (14/10/06)
Lil miss:Chiara Louise Chloe (09/07/08)
Her ladyship:Rosalia Sophie Anais (18/06/12)
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Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 9:25pm
I think she means PPL not WFF.. I got that amount for PPL. We get nothing from WFF this past year, can't wait for april so we can finally get something. |
Posted By: WRXnKids
Date Posted: 13 March 2008 at 10:27pm
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I mean WFF as if i am the only one that goes back to work in december when my maternity leave finishes my total income including the couple of weeks of parental leave i will get early april is very small around $11000 therefore it said my weekly payments from IRD will be high. Either way it doesnt worry me cos i have to ring them anyway and find out what the deal is if that changes etc. If only i work a full year i would be entitled to about $89 a week but as thats not the case the website implies i can get that higher amount for the full year as long as my income doesnt alter. -------------
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Posted By: ElfsMum
Date Posted: 14 March 2008 at 4:30am
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and the sucky thing is you have to wait till next tax year to adjust payments.. ..you arent supposed to get ML more than 6 weeks before..you are supposed to legally take 8 weeks after bubs is born.. but i guess your mw or someone could arrange it for earlier.. in my case(finished work at 20 weeks) you have no option but to take the parental tax credit..which is what people who arent entitled to ML like me have to take to get any money..which annoys the crap outta me.... ..after 8 weeks we get 15 dollars a week..(even though i havent worked in 6 months:( ------------- Mum to two amazing boys! |
Posted By: Kels
Date Posted: 14 March 2008 at 10:42pm
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I would ring them to find out for sure as that seems like alot of money for WFF. I have 3kids a single mother and I dont get that much. I also work over 20hrs per week and recieve the inwork payment which you wouldnt be eliglble for since you or your partner arent working more than 30hrs per week. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
Busy mum to Miss 15yrs, Miss 10yrs and Master 4yrs |
Posted By: WRXnKids
Date Posted: 14 March 2008 at 10:46pm
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I would be usually working 40 hours a week which is what it stated on the site so i just based my answers on that. I am going to ring them anyway cos there is alot on the site that doesnt make any sense but hey any loophole that benefits a family has to be good. Ill pass on any good shortcuts if i find any out -------------
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Posted By: Kels
Date Posted: 14 March 2008 at 10:57pm
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Ring them, they are really good as they are able to tell you what entitlements you are eligible for and you can apply for these to start over the phone. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
Busy mum to Miss 15yrs, Miss 10yrs and Master 4yrs |