Have any readers claimed the Centrelink Paid Parental Leave Payment? If so, did you have any problems claiming it and how long did it take to be approved?
The Paid Parental Leave Payment is an initiative by the Labour Gov. to encourage new Mum's to stay at home and spend quality time with their new born babies. It is a great idea, anything to encourage and help Mothers to bond and spend quality time with their new babies without stressing about loss of income is a winner in my book. It is terrible when Mums are pressured to go back to work too early and have to put their babies in care or struggle financially.
However I have found the application process to be very complicated and drawn out, like most matters with Centrelink, I think they make it hard for people to make claims so that they end up saying "stuff it, it's too much hassel" and just go without! We rarely claim anything from Centrelink, but in this occasion when I feel I am really elligable and deserving of this payment, I am reminded why I prefer to go without Centrelink assistance.
I had my baby 7 weeks ago and have only now recieved a notification that my claim for Paid Parental Leave has been rejected and without details of why. (I ticked all the eligability boxes?)
And to make things worse, you cannot recieve FTB part B for the duration of the PPLP period and you cannot work to make any money for the whole 18 weeks of this allowance either. So I have knocked back opportunities to make money so as not to jeopardise my claim and now I have lost both.
And, when you try to call Centrelink, you have at least a 30 minute wait in the "que" before you even get to talk to anyone. I have spent over 2 hours on the phone all up for this matter.
Centrelink....pfffft, geez I am glad I'm not a doll bludger!
Any way, I was wondering if anyone els has had similar problems and If you have any advice that can help me? What do I do next? Who do you talk to?
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