Maternity Leave and giving birth outside UK

[Hug0m0nkey]

Just wondering if anyone has any experience or advice for me. Im an Aussie living in UK and am married to an Englishman. We have one DD who is 1 now and we are thinking about DC number 2. We are both open to the idea of having our next child back in OZ but we are wondering whats the go on maternity leave and package if we have our baby outside of UK? We arent leaving for good, just spending 6 - 9 months abroad. Do I need to tell my employer and would I not be eligible for ay type of maternity pay? I have been with my eomployer for more than 5 years and have alrady take a years maternity leave with DD.

Hi,
I'm no expert on this but my friend did a similar thing to what you're planning and she found that she wasn't eligible for healthcare in the foreign country - here's how it was for her:

She is a British citizen, working for a UK employer and paying tax in the UK. Her husband is a citizen of, works and pays tax in a different country. They found that she wasn't eligible for healthcare in her husband's country so she had the baby here and then flew out to spend her maternity leave in his country.

Therefore, I'd check what healthcare you can get in Australia. As far as I know, once you have earned your entitlement to maternity pay (either from your employer or from your payment of National Insurance here) it's no one's business where you are during that maternity leave (but as I said, I'm no expert!)

ar ok so the SMP gets paid once you are entitled to it regardless of where you have your baby.