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Original poster

How much to pay AP extra for school hols?

32 replies

Mendi · 20/05/2013 12:06

Just planning ahead and trying to budget. Assuming AP is happy to do additional hours in school hols of course.

If you pay your AP £80 per week for 4 hours a day during term time, how much would you expect to pay him/her in addition to that during school holidays, if that entailed an extra 6 hours a day? Is £100 reasonable? Not enough?

Not looking for 'but that's less than minimum wage' points as this is an AP who gets bed and board on top of pay.

Kids are 9 and 11 so no concerns about leaving them with an AP all day.

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Original poster
Mendi · 20/05/2013 13:00

Yes outraged but you don't pay an AP an 'hourly rate' the rest of the time, so why would it be on an hourly rate for school holidays but not term time? They are not childminders or nannies.

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OutragedFromLeeds · 20/05/2013 12:58

I think you need to pay her, the normal hourly rate x the hours you want her to work.

You pay £80 per week for 20 hours work, that works out at £4ph.

You now want 50 hours work (I think I've read that right?) so that would be £200.

I think you're being quite generous with £80 per 20 hours though, so maybe a bit less. I would say £80 for 25 hours is more usual, which works out as £3.20ph x 50 hours = £160 per week.

Original poster
Mendi · 20/05/2013 12:57

Thanks nannynick. I had wondered about the tax and NI. Is it just that you pay that in the weeks you are paying over £109 or do you approach it by 'annualising' what is paid to the AP and then work out if over the year (or 6 months) you're paying over £109 per week?

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Original poster
Mendi · 20/05/2013 12:55

Yes good point rootypig. I really need the AP to be happy to do the longer days in school hols so am hoping to cover that aspect off at recruitment stage. Then want to make sure she/he feels adequately compensated. I would certainly allow a budget for cinema/leisure centre stuff as well, as I would if I were at home with them. Also I expect they will each go to friends' houses a fair bit.

I feel that all day at home with a 9 and 11 year old is nothing like being at home with younger kids - they are quite self sufficient and unless I am doing an 'activity' with them like baking or something, generally they just entertain themselves and don't need active supervision. So the AP would be able to surf Internet/watch TV or whatever. Just need an adult to be there for them if needed really. And it would work out about 8 weeks per year of full time care as their dad, grandparents and I would take care of the rest.

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nannynick · 20/05/2013 12:54

4 hours to 10 hours per day is a big jump.

It's moving the job from au-pair to live-in nanny isn't it?

Could you increase the hours a bit but also use holiday club so that au-pair gets some time off.

Increase in salary may mean yoy get into needing to register as an employer, may need to operate PAYE, so look at the threshold for Lower Earnings Limit for National Insurance and pay less than that, adjusting the working hours so that your au-pair considers it to be fair pay for the work.

rootypig · 20/05/2013 12:22

So you would be increasing it pro rata? Sounds like the reasonable minimum.

But I would also say that you're really changing the nature of the AP's job, from her having significant free time (reflected in low pay) to full time work with kids. A full week with any kids is really hard work! So I would add some extra in recognition of that. Or give her a bit of an entertainment budget to make life easier.

andagain · 20/05/2013 12:15

Hi,
I pay mine double as her hours double (like yours mine does 4 hour days in term time). My view is that 9-10 hour days with kids, even if they don't need much done for them, are long days for any au pair so should be compensated accordingly.

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