Au pair salary

I think they should be paid minimum wage.

I was shocked when a friend of mine (who is significantly posher than me) spoke about how nobody bothers with child care in the circles she grew up inand they just get an au pair because it's cheaper. But there is absolutely no way that there can be any sort of 'cultural exchange' if they are doing full-time child care.

This will have surely come about because so many people took advantage of them.

@ThatRoseViewer you can check out a thread I posted a few weeks ago… what would your view be on a travel company offering £130 pw to be on call 0700-2100 for 7 days. Yes expenses paid, shared accomm and ski kit pass provided - although all those are essential to do the job, not freebies. It works out at £1/hour. I’m still not sure if it’s legal (abroad so complicated) but many posters thought it was a free choice for people to make and not a problem even if pay is “a bit shit”.

You are goading us right.
You've got to be people trafficking on that pay.

You sound really tight fisted, how much do you think it’s worth to have your children looked after? My daughter was a live in nanny, she had her own apartment, completely paid for and earned over 50k!

But no one thinks they’re an abusive employer do they?

they may not technically be on call 24/7, but it’s going to be pretty awkward if you refuse to help out your landlord/ employer at short notice. The fact you live in the same house would make it difficult to say- nah I’d rather just sit on my backside and watch telly.

You don’t have to be treating the au pair like Cinderella to take advantage. I bet that most families will
have used the power dynamic in their favour. Or guilt tripped the au pair.

At least having minimum wage gives them a guaranteed basic income

I can remember managers at work recommending to each other to get an au pair as it was cheaper than other childcare. They had no interest in a cultural exchange, just cheap childcare.

Not when I did it. It was very typical of the job/role.. in fact my role was easier than most au pairs from abroad!

katepilar

i don’t know, I’d guess there’d be instances of ‘actually we need to go here, since you’re about could you help out?’

What you describe doesnt sound like an au-pair role though. Au-pairs were ment to do 5-6 hours a day.

I didnt know there was any official guidance on au-pair pay these days?
I remember this talk long before Brexit about au-pairs being paid more than they were at the time but even that was NMW minus accomodation offset.

I presume you want to pay your au pair less then?
Up the rent, claw some of your cash back! Then look for more cheap labour when they quit.

Fucking hell

Au-pairs and nannies arent ment to be on call, thats not how it works. Yes, there are abusive families where this could happen but I have never met or heard of any any that would have that sort of arrangement.

Plus the DC I looked after were 13 and 8 - I was definitely not a cut price nanny.

And it’s brilliant if the family are great. I got very generous ‘pocket money’- plus theatre tickets, luxury holiday and weekend trips, was treated like a family member in many ways. I did a few hours cleaning and laundry in the mornings, had most afternoons off, helped at tea time, could go the cinema free anytime (family owned a chain of cinemas). I spent Christmas there which was wonderful, and my 19th birthday - provided with a family party and my choice of home baked cake.

I am very grateful for the wonderful time I had forty years ago in Austria. 🇦🇹

absolutely NOT true.

I was an au pair before I became a mother. I looked after two sets of boys in two different roles all day long 5 days a week, often some weekends and mum and dads date nights. I took them out to activities daily, prepped and cooked meals, did their washing, tidied their spaces, changed the beds, cleaned the house during naps/school time eventually. I was paid £600 a month and full board/food, presents on birthdays/xmas. This was 2014-2017.

To say being an au pair is just drop offs and pick ups is wild. I provided continuous care to the children in my care, like a nanny role for much less than a nanny would have earned.
I loved the children I looked after as if they were my own but looking back, I did a lot considering the wage I received.

Because some people treated them like slaves, maybe.

Otherwise it’s viewed as modern slavery

Um, because I didn’t want my kids at an after school club every day? I wanted them to come home and to also go to various after school activities or play dates.

If they genuinely only ever did 3 hours a day why would you have a live in au pair over after school club?

I think they were always paid around minimum wage anyway weren’t they?

When we had au pairs, they did 3 hours a day Mon-Fri and were paid £150 per week, plus phone, travel card, gym membership, food and board. That was the going rate back then (around 6 years ago). That’s roughly min wage.

I dont know why people keep mentioning that the £1k pm is a bargin for their slave au pair. Full board student accomodation where my son is costs between £600 and £800pm. Sleeping in your spare bedroom and "enjoying" meals that your slave au pair probably cooks herself and eats with the kids won't cost you anything like £1k per month.

For a 40-hour work week at the National Living Wage of £12.71 per hour, the estimated take-home pay is approximately £1,880 per month after tax and National Insurance deductions. This equates to an annual gross salary of about £26,436.80.

You are very unreasonable

other nannies are available...

It’s interesting to see the outrage against AP employees in this thread compared with a travel company that offered my son £130/week for a rep job where he’d be on call c14 hours a day (not the 5 my AP worked). I posted about that, querying how it was legal, and most people thought it was fair enough!

Similar to our experience. Not everyone exploits their APs. And yes it was convenient and cheaper than alternatives… but we had 2 kids in ft nursery plus AP. They genuinely were free during the day. And lived in central London. A shitty flat near me… shared is about £1000 per month plus bills. We gave them a double room. A bathroom. And fairly minimal duties. Biggest risk was boredom.