Live-in au-pair - how much? Post Reply

[annamike]

At £130pw she is still under the yearly personal allowance (tax wise) and we don't need to pay any NI. However, we wanted to have a clean contract with her and register it.
Within the EU there is no age restrictions for au-pairs. Age was a problem with Romanian and Bulgarian up to Jan 1st but I think now it is same as rest of the EU.
Thanks again for all replies as very useful.

[Bluebird27]

Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question, but what is the difference between an au-pair and a nanny?
I have recently contacted a few agencies about getting a nanny and have been advised that the going rate is £12 an hour. Thus at 35 hours a week that would be a whopping £420. Therefore based on that comparison, I think £135 for an au-pair seems alarmingly low. That works out to just £3.70 an hour - that would be impossible for anyone to live on. Am I missing something major here?

[MGMidget]

Nannies have experience and are looking after children as a career so likely to have relevant training/qualifications/checkable glowing references proving relevant experience. Au pairs are visiting the UK for a short period (typically up to a year at the most) in order to improve their English and have a bit of an adventure/cultural experience. They don't have much childcare experience, their English may not be very good and they would not be likely to compete successfully for a job as a nanny against more qualified candidates. They also get 'looked after' more in a family than a nanny would expect. Their board and lodging is provided, they are often given support to help them settle in and find their way around a new country. They are treated more as a family member and may be included in social occasions or invited on family outings. They also work part-time, typically before and after school hours whereas nannies often work long days. Au pairs are not considered safe to be left alone with babies or young toddlers for long periods of time because of lack of sufficient experience and training (and also because they may lack the motivation to do it well since they haven't chosen childcare as a career). Their pay is essentially 'pocket money' as all living expenses are already covered by the host family.

A nanny would be expected to be capable of juggling more than one young child/baby at a time for full (10 hour) days, capable of taking initiative to deal with the unexpected, knowledgeable about the care of babies and children and to play a key role in aiding the babies/children's development. I would suggest that a quoted pay expectation of £12 per hour for a nanny is based on a live-out arrangement so the nanny would need to pay for her accommodation, food and other living expenses out of that.

[Bluebird27]

HI MGMidgit - Wow! That was an amazing explanation. Thank you so much. Really helps clarify it for me. Really appreciate it. Did you end up hiring a nanny then?

[Chucka]

I am not a nanny but I am a qualified primary school teacher with many years full time and supply teaching experience including early years.

I would be really interested in a nanny-share or mutually nannying with another mum for a few days a week. I just have the one baby . We live in Tooting.

I'd prefer LO to have a happy day with other children in a home/family setting - rather than in nursery care

I'd really like to hear from other mums who feel similarly

[MC5]

We pay £80 a week and our au pairs tell us that this is considered a fair amount. The job is pretty easy now as our 2 girls are 10 and 13 and don't require a lot of work. We have found many of our au pairs on aupair-world.co.uk which has low cost to sign up and plenty of applicants.

[mum65]

Ha ha you could have been talking about my ex-au pair here !! Be very careful. I was made to feel terribly guilty, paying extra etc etc - when in fact she was actually being paid a lot more than others.
I paid her 140 a week, working no weekends, no bank holidays, no Xmas and New Year. Sometimes she would work as little as ten hours a week, her hours were 3.30-7.30 pm...she did no housework at all.
Sometimes because of my work she would work extra, but this was compensated by fact that instead of having just four weeks holiday she was paid whenever I took holiday, whenever she took holiday etc.
So in the last year I employed her she had over 12 weeks paid holiday.....when she realised she would be having daughter for some of the school holidays during the day she promptly booked holiday for herself!! so I had to take holiday off from work to look after daughter - while paying au pair. By the way her boyfriend stayed every weekend too.
She also complained about not being paid enough, friends being paid x and y, she even went and got a two mornings a week job - so when my daughter was ill I had to phone in sick to my work to look after her, while au pair went to other job!!! I know, I know,.reason I stuck with her is daughter liked her and I heard so many horror stories about other au pairs.
My advice is always have a contract - I didn't - try to be reasonable but don't be a sucker. I think she is on a very good deal and to be honest there are so many people desperate for an aupair job she is lucky.
My ad for a replacement got over 1,000 replies!

[luckymummy]

Following on from this thread, does anyone know the status now for a Romanian au pair working in the UK? We want to employ a Romanian au pair and want to know what type of work permit etc she needs to work as an au pair. I know the rules have changed since Jan 14 but can't find on any website what they need to do to work as an au pair now - previously it was the workers accession card - does that still stand? Thanks for any help you may have.

[abigail]

Wow let's not hide behind screen names come out with the real story! How many girls worked for you so far! You never paid taxes after any au pairs neither nannies, shall we report you?! You fired a qualified teacher nanny for being too nice and kind to your children! I would not trust this one! Definitely not Annamike , complaining again !!!