Kia ora! The school holidays are in full swing. This edition has something for the working parents juggling them, a staffing update for anyone heading into maternity care, and a money story plenty of solo parents will recognise.
The school holiday maths that doesn’t add up
If you’ve spent this week swapping days with your partner, calling in the grandparents or booking a holiday programme, you’re in good company. A new NZ Herald piece has crunched the numbers on the gap between school holidays and annual leave for working parents.
Primary school holidays add up to around 60 weekdays a year, while most employees get four weeks of paid annual leave. For a solo parent, that’s a shortfall of about 40 days. Two working parents who never take leave at the same time still come up around 20 days short, and that’s before anyone gets sick. The article also looks at the cost of before school, after school and holiday care, which can take a real bite out of the household budget.
If you’re paying for a school holiday programme, it’s worth checking whether you’re eligible for the OSCAR subsidy through Work and Income. It helps with the cost of approved before school, after school and holiday programmes.
Read the full story in the NZ Herald (subscriber article)
380 more nursing, midwifery and healthcare assistant roles
Health NZ has confirmed it will add 380 full-time equivalent nursing, midwifery and healthcare assistant roles this financial year. The figure comes from its annual staffing calculation, the system it has used to set nursing numbers for around 20 years. Health NZ hasn’t yet said how many of the roles will be in maternity care, so we’ll share more if that breakdown is released.
Alongside the new roles, Health NZ is building a business case on how nurse-to-patient ratios, and other staffing models, could work across different clinical settings. No decision on ratios has been made yet.
One solo māmā’s honest money story
The Spinoff’s The Cost of Being series asks New Zealanders to open up about their money. A recent entry from a solo mum to a 10-year-old is a really honest read. She works full time, budgets carefully, buys almost everything second hand and has built her savings back up from almost nothing in two years. She’s also stuck covering the full mortgage on a home she still co-owns with her ex, and she can’t sell or restructure it without his agreement.
There are lovely moments in it too: Friday night wraps in front of their favourite show, homemade sushi, and the walks where the two of them talk things through.
One detail surprised her, and it might surprise you too. Child support collected by Inland Revenue isn’t guaranteed. If IRD can’t collect the full amount from the paying parent, the payment may arrive short, so she leaves it out of her budget altogether. If you’re receiving or applying for child support, Inland Revenue’s child support pages explain how payments work. And if money is feeling tight, MoneyTalks is a free financial helpline that can connect you with budgeting support near you.
Read the full story on The Spinoff
Whatever stage your whānau is at, you’ll find local support, services and resources on Hey Māmā.
This bulletin is a roundup of external news stories. Hey Māmā links to original sources and does not reproduce or represent the views of those publications.