How much should I pay an au pair Post Reply

[2010emilie1]

Hi,

I fully agree with petal and top mama and by the way I was definitely not born with a silver spoon in my mouth. Quite the opposite but I strongly feel about people being paid decently.

We paid our last Au Pair Plus £150/week. This is £3.40 x 35 hours (based on the standard au pair hourly rate when you work it back from £85/25 hours) plus a £32 travel card for zone 1-2. We pay extra time during school holidays when they need to work on the basis of these £3.40/hour and give 5 paid weeks of holiday when we are away.

It makes them feel like they are paid decently (London is very expensive) and means that they will not leave and believe me this is important. For me, paying my au pair decently is paramount since I do not want to change every 6 weeks. I have been a poor student having to work 16 hours a day during entire summers when I was a student and would not have liked to be exploited.

By paying them £85 for 30 hours or more, you definitely expose yourself to her leaving after a few weeks/months when she feels exploited.

A live-in nanny for 35 hours would be £7x35hours=£245. So, you save £100 saved per week.

For that au pair plus gets her own room with ensuite bathroom at the top of the house. I am aware that not everyone can give that. She does the washing of the whole family since it is silly/Eco unfriendly to make half wash loads of just the kids clothes but in return the cleaner does her bedroom and bathroom once a week.

We have had wonderful au pairs and live-in nannies in the past and being paid decently was one of the reasons for them to stay, come back to cover for the summer, take the kids to their own house in the South of France over the summer etc...

I would rather do without a holiday myself than having to change au-pair regularly because of a money issue.

Having said that I can fully appreciate that it is hard for a lot of families to afford even an au-pair in London.

So, please do not consider my post as the post from someone who has forgotten what it means to struggle to make ends meet. I can fully appreciate this.

Good luck to you,

E

[foodeditorjo]

I pay extortionate rent in Balham and work as a journalist on a not-huge salary. I probably have £100 per week disposable income. £400 is actually quite a lot of money if that's your disposable income. If you're paying her phone, travel card and toiletries, then it's more than adequate. If I was an au pair I wouldn't necessarily expect to have lots of money for meals out, clothes etc.

If she is thinking along the lines of £100 per month then she will doubtless be thrilled with £300. It all depends on how generous you are with her generally. For example, I take in foreign students and always give them nice food etc. I have heard of families where the student gets grotty frozen pizzas etc while the family feed off good-quality food, cooked from scratch. It's that kind of appalling behaviour that separates the sheep from the goats...

[fulhammom]

Hi ladies,

There seems to be lots of knowledge on here regarding Au-Pairs, so I was just wondering where is the best place to find one? Any tips on how to pick someone who'll be good with the kids? I live in Fulham, looking for about 25 hours per week. Happy to pay a good rate.

Many thanks! x