Au pair salary

How does the daily housing offset amount add up to £1,200, thats some very interesting maths.

£800 goes nowhere in 2026!!

No one treated it as a cultural exchange. People took the absolute piss with au pairs, loads of poor young women ended up in houses where they were left in sole charge of toddlers etc for "pocket money".

Loads abuse it and use them as live in nannies. It was so poorly regulated for years.

Assuming you are actually trying to create an au pair style situation where the person coming is from abroad and trying to learn English, then yes you’re using the UK’s cultural cachet as that’s what attracts au pairs to the UK. If you’re looking at work as a way to make traveling around the world more affordable it’s not the job that’s attracting you, it’s the travel. And so you don’t care about being exploited (so much). But if you take that away - it’s not a great gig. Especially if you aren’t providing many hours but the ones you do require are split across the day.

So you think someone who is a massive help, living with you and looking after your children (who you presumably care about quite a lot), whilst putting themselves at some personal risk going to live with a random family they don't know, is not worth more than minimum wage?

It makes sense for an au pair to live with you as part of their work, being part of the family in the home.

It doesn't mean you shouldn't pay them a decent hourly rate for the actual work they are doing.

She is living in your home so not costing you rent. I’m staggered that you are essentially saying you want live in slave labour, I feel sorry for this poor girl, given your attitude I suspect she is earning every penny.

More fool you that you were happy to work for very little back in the day, it doesn’t mean young people deserve to be exploited - things have moved on quite a bit, think about what a drink used to cost!

There are other live in jobs. Hotel work and some catering.
Im glad that the minimum wage is now payable. It minimises the chance of exploration of young people ( often women)

If you only want help with pick up and drop offs then why do you need an au pair?

£800 for a shit single room, where you have no autonomy, can’t use your space for friends, don’t have control over what you eat unless you pay more and live in work?
It’s far from a “pretty good gig” and its completely taking advantage of young girls.

I thought the traditional au pair visa that you're thinking of (15hrs/week of light mother's help duties alongside some amount of studying) went out the window with Brexit anyway?

If you're just paying minimum wage for weekday pick up and drop off then surely that isn't more than £800 a month anyway?

Up until recently domestic live in help was excluded from the minimum wage regs. This has changed. I can see both sides of it, there is obviously no clear answer as it depends on many factors. In theory i understand why home workers were excluded from the regulations but presumably that left the door too wide for abuse hence the change.

It’s not the Europeans aren’t keen, it’s now incredibly difficult post Brexit. We had APs pre Brexit. Paid the recommended amount…. They worked about 2 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the evening. No weekend work. A series of (mainly French) APs whose main aim was to see London and improve their English. We paid for English lessons too.

MN hates APs but I thought it was a fab system which worked well.

I find it hard to believe anyone would host someone in their house, and pay English lessons for them to do 5 hours work a day unless they were still hugely financially up.
You must have been paying almost nothing to make it seem like such a “fab system” for you compared to paying a childminder for 5 hours.

This is such a bizarre thread.

Why are you randomly claiming that rent should be £800 per month? This is for a room in your house which you would be paying for anyway. And there are strict limits on how much you can deduct for live-in accommodation in any case.

If you feel that it's expensive to have an au pair, and not good value for money, then other childcare options are available. I'm really not sure why you would think that any young person should work for less than minimum wage.

The middle class mums I knew who had au pairs definitely exploited them. They had to be available at a moments notice if my friends needed child care and much of the cleaning was left to them too. I think the fact that they now get minimum wage is a way of protecting them because there's no guarantee the food or room they get will be up to scratch and the hours 'worked' originally agreed to are always upped on the sly. Why would you be against young workers having added protections ? Very strange

If you can't afford an actual nanny then you could always take care of your children yourself. Just an idea.

Another example of jobs including rent and food is the armed forces

I have a 17 year old training to be in the army. Take home pay after room and food deducted is over £1700 month

It is a really bizarre thread and the £800 per month stood out to me as well. I think the OP has quite poor flexibility of thought.

Yes, rent for a room in many shared houses will be £800 (or more!) but that will be a proper tenancy agreement, often with other young people where you can come and go as you please, social opportunities, parties, have your boyfriend to stay whenever you want, spread out in the lounge, decorate (within reason) how you would like to. It’s hardly comparable to living in a spare room with a random family with who you don’t have anything in common with, lose your job if you get asked to leave and all with the bonus of having to look after their kids.

Au pairs live ‘at work’. It’s very different. I am not sure the OP is that bright if they can’t see that.

If you don’t think it’s good value, find a different source of childcare, surely, OP?

Its still terrifically cheap . If you need full wraparound care, that's usually 4 hours a day - an hour before school and 3 after. So 20 hours a week. In the south east you will pay a childminder about £32-35 a day per child for that. It will include a light "tea" but almost never a good portion of a decent meal in my experience. For two kids, thats £320 a week.

If you use an 18-21 year old au pair for the same 20 hours, its 10.85 ×20 = 217, less 77 a week for accommodation, its only £140 a week and its much more flexible, no pick ups and drop offs.

We must have been terrible au pair hosts as we paid around £80 a week from 2008 - 2016. Our last aupair stayed 4 years and the previous 2 stayed 2 years each. I imagine they felt extremely exploited. They had a lovely room, did pick ups and drop offs and a couple of nights babysitting. Oh and my DD was on FTime to our last aupair last week. She left 10 years ago

Op if you can't afford to pay an au pair £800 a month, then don't get one. Salvery is now illegal. If I'm understanding this correctly, you are quibbling taking £1000 a month off her for board, when she is using your spare room and taking a bit of extra hot water. I'm sure she isn't going to eat £1000 worth of your food each week? Her £200 per month pocket money has to cover travel back home, clothing, toiletries, a social life and a little savings. It's a hell of a lot cheaper than other wrap around child care services, and I bet you have her doing the child centred light laundry, tidying and cooking, i know I would.

Actually OP I agree with you and i work in childcare. I am a childminder. The majority of my income comes from government funding, and by the time I take expenses into account full books of 3-4 year olds is far less than minimum wage. So it seems a strange fight for the government to pick.

Which costs £800 a month in minimum wage ... use her less, pay her less.

Or find a sitter who is available to do just drop offs and pick ups [which as we all know is impossible] but would be the same cost without the board and lodgings.

It's a better gig than it was which was frankly modern slavery with a return ticket but its not a full paid nanny or a childminder setting both of which would cost you substantially more and in the case of a childminder you would still have pick ups and drop offs with the added bonus of doing It on your commute to work.

Children are sodding expensive. Feel free to have a vent about our lack of adequate funding as a nation but don't begrudge the woman who is looking after your biggest achievements a fair wage.