I'm a midwife - I moved to Australia and I'm paid so much more for the same job

A midwife who emigrated from the UK to Australia has revealed the striking wage bump she received erstwhile she moved nations, contempt doing precisely the aforesaid job.

Sydney Graves, primitively from Newcastle, said she earns 'about a 3rd extra' aft moving to Melbourne in the southbound eastbound of the country, compared to what she made successful the UK.

She claimed, successful a TikTok video that's had much than 100,000 views, that midwives and nurses get 'automatically' bumped up the wage standard if they've worked successful a infirmary for a definite magnitude of time, careless of their accomplishment set.

Australian recruitment websites suggest that the mean introduction level wage for nurses and midwives is roughly $77,000 per twelvemonth (equivalent to astir £37,500).

In the UK, newly qualified NHS midwives tin adept to gain astir £29,970 — astir 20 per cent little than the Australian wage packet.

Ms Graves, who posts nether the TikTok name @ukmidwifedownunder, added that wage grades whitethorn disagree depending connected the portion of Australia you unrecorded in. 

‘The champion proposal I would springiness is to spell onto Google, benignant successful midwife oregon caregiver wage standard for wherever you privation to go, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, wherever,' she said.

‘And it volition springiness you an outline connected what you would get paid depending connected however galore years qualified you are.

‘If you were qualified 2 years a spell it volition beryllium successful Year 2 and past each twelvemonth you work, it volition spell up,’ she explained.

The midwife described however wage scales are organised successful England, with recently qualified NHS nurses moving connected a Band 5 wage and lone moving to a Band 6 erstwhile they person been ‘signed disconnected for competencies.’

‘But that’s not a happening successful the infirmary I'm in,' she added.

'You conscionable automatically get bumped up wage scales, doesn’t substance astir suturing, doesn't substance astir cannulation, immoderate of those types of things.

‘Yes, they are desired but they aren’t a indispensable similar they are backmost home.'

Since moving down nether past year, Ms Graves has published respective TikTok clips revealing her acquisition of emigration — and the stark differences betwixt Australia and the UK. 

In 1 video she described 'a mates of unusual things' she's noticed astir the nation. 

'Food shops, like, the equivalent of Asda and Tesco, are unfastened connected a Sunday until precocious astatine night,' she said.

'I consciousness similar successful England, adjacent the 24-hour ones adjacent connected a Sunday...but they're conscionable unfastened present each the time.'

In different caller video, she spoke astir the misconceptions that situation midwifery.

‘People deliberation that our occupation is lone is delivering oregon helping with the commencement of a baby. 

They don’t realise that midwives don’t conscionable bash 1 role, they don’t conscionable bash labour care, they besides bash antenatal care, and this is simply a immense portion of our occupation arsenic good arsenic postnatal care.’

Last November, investigation from the UK’s nursing national the Royal College of Nursing recovered that betwixt 2021 and 2024, the fig of nursing unit leaving the registry successful England accrued by 43 per cent.