Is this reasonable for an au pair job? And when should I start recruiting?

in my opinion the job as you outlined it is fine, lots aupairs would love to have a one three yearold to look after. dont expect an aupair do other work while s/he is watching a child apart from fixing his meal or sweeping/tidying after meal/ shoving laundry into the maschine. as other people said aupairs are not usually experienced enough to multitask and certainly doing cleaning and watching a child is not fair thing to ask.
you can say that you pay her for her language classes if she stays whatever time you agree on, as a kind of a bonus. otherwise you might end up with a course paid and an aupair gone.
and an occasional swap of a saturday morning for an afternoon sounds ok to me. just needs to be discussed upfront (before matching).

completely insane Frak.

"Employers and pension providers will send this information to HMRC online for payments made to all their employees including those paid below the National Insurance Lower Earnings Limit (LEL)."

From HMRC

End of June will be tight for the Germans as the good ones may still be tied up with Arbiter examinations. Better off for mid July.

Frak what the heck are you talkin' about on the other thread? Pls tell me just as our nanny has resigned I will NOT have to deal with PAYE for an AP....

Do be aware that by limiting your search to candidates with a particular language who are prepared to speak their language to him rather than English you may need to increase the lead time on recruitment, particularly if it is German you're after because I'm seeing 2013 profiles up already.

You may also need to give significant amounts of direction on suitable afternoon activities. And definitely drop the cleaning bar tidying his room. Laundry may depend on the au pair.

I have never really had a British aupair because they don't fit the profile of someone who would get the maximum experience out of an aupair role. Would worry about their attitude and whether their heart was in it.

But others who have used British aupairs might disagree. Of course, there is no language barrier, which is a plus.

Having said that, a weekend lie in is quite an imposition for an aupair because that means she might have to give up partying the night before. A sweetener as Harriet suggested would be nice.

I am very lucky with my au pair. She taught English in Spain so doesn't need language classes.

Actually op, why don't you have a look at the British au pairs? There were a fair amount on great au pairs last time I was looking.

Dowager, aupairing has seriously moved on from traditional notions. Aupairs are legally like live-in employees with equivalent rights.

If OP wants to ask her to work on a weekend every now and then, they can agree this without any issue whatsoever. So I don't understand why you are asking OP about giving the aupair off a day in the week in compensation. If it is agreed before the aupair joins, that is the deal.

OK, so forget the Saturday morning (though we could offer to swap an afternoon in the week for a Saturday morning occasionally if we have a big event to attend?).

I'm sure most wouldn't mind this, but it would be a good gesture to offer her a sweetener in addition in any case. Couple of movie tickets? Round of drinks if she's going out? This is what I would personally do if it came up.

to your last query yes you can.

If you came on here asking how easy it would be to fine a nanny willing to do just those hours I'd say...goooood luck to you. Becuase they would be thin on the ground.

I don't think the role is too onerous for an AP (and in fact you may well find one who is delighted with such a role) but the hours are a bit tricky. For some reason we ahven't found that many evening language courses in our area (greater London) but you might be luckier in your area.

You do want whatever schedule they do to be able to accommodate this - it's an important part of their year AND the way they make friends. If all the ohter APs are doing the 9.30-11.00 language course slot (and going to the movies, the pub in the evening when she's supposed to be at her class) she will miss out and quite possibly be not so happy.

Can you rejig your DCs hours at all? How far away is the language school? If it's close to the nursery it might be okay.

Agree with other comments about having low expectations re multi-tasking with cleaning etc.

Pay her extra for the Saturday babysitting too.

1 au pairs are not just girls, they can be boys (to all of you saying 'she')
2 I think it sounds ok if you get a good au pair, but maybe get a cleaner in for an hour twice a week instead of asking her to clean. And forget the lie in

But if you want her to give you lie ins once a month, are you going to give her a day off during the week?

No, thought not.

I think you are fine with everything except having AP clean/tidy/laundry etc whilst she has sole care of your 3 YO. IME they just don't have the nous to multi-task whilst keeping eye on your child at same time. Mums seem to haver the protective button hard-wired into an on position but APs (and sometimes DHs) just don't seem to.

So, I'd separate the cleaning bit and add it on at the end of the day, so that they have mornings free for language courses. Or have your child stay in nursery till 4.30 one day a week to allow for this.

If you keep it at 25 hrs, its an AP role, at 30-35 hours it's an 'AP plus' role. I think it's fine for an AP and you don;t need a nanny (I'd have thought differently if child were younger)

Language courses - the best ones are done by your local adult education colleges - check your local authority education websites. Private ones are usually way too expensive. Pointless to get them to sign a commitment in return for having course paid - realistically you wouldn't be able to do anything if they just upped and left, so no reassurance on your side, and increases the chances of a moonlit flight if she decides to leave before time is up.

You said that you want her to work weekends every month or so. And babysit once a week (assume that will largely be Friday/Sat night) so that's not 2 free days a week.

And really, I think that you need to pay for language classes during the day, not in the evenings. When is she going to meet people and socialise?

One of my friends had a nanny who worked pretty much those hours (but didn't do cleaning).

What about a nanny share?

I don't think that you're asking anything especially difficult, it's just that it's rather long hours. The British AP Assoc says:
The au pair?s schedule must provide sufficient time to attend language school, and the au pair shall receive two free days each week and should be offered one full weekend off per month.

That isn't what you're proposing.

I think you might well find a part time nanny. We had a couple who worked 3/3.30-7pm with one nights babysitting, one was studying to be a midwife and finished at college at 2.30pm and one had a lunchtime bar job and did some evenings there too after she left work with us.

Not the same hours as you, but 11.30-4.30 with one night babysitting is a proper part time job.