How much do your au pairs spend each week?

Being an au pair is meant to be a travelling/cultural experience where the a young person has a year off from studies/full time work to live in another country by providing household help in exchange for board and pocket money.

I would think that for most that means getting out and about seeing the sights, having experiences, going to bars and clubs etc etc. These experiences may be expensive but it is a year off from normal life of paying rent and bills. I think it would be a bit sad not to make the most of the experience by sitting in your room and saving money rather than making the most of it.

Hosting an au-pair doesn't suppose that much cost to a family and living in a family's house isn't the same as sharing a house... You're right that most people are not left with even hakf of 400 at the end of the month, I'm left with nothing at my job back home, but that has nothing to do with the fact that most au-pairs are underpaid for the job they do... They have no real contract, no health insurance, no rights, no place to go if the family decides to let them go sooner... And they're here to learn English and enjoy the city. Some families don't help with the cost of classes or phone bills or transport... Try getting a live in nanny with the same net wage and tell her that 400 is enough... I don't think its wrong to say an au-pair is cheap childcare, it is and some families compensate that by giving a great experience to the girls but others just abuse of it.

I don't think you have the right au-pair. She is meant to take cake or her own washing and clean after herself. Maybe some communication could help fix the problem. I have found that au-pairs with no previous experience, especially when young, habe no idea of how to run a house so they don't know what else they can do other than helping with the kids. She should deffinetly be taking work away from you and not adding on.
I don't know where you are but I need to point out that £80 seems a bit underpaid to me too...
Sorry you're having a bad experience.

Sorry - completely mis-read your last post - too much sun (in Cornwall!)

I think it’s a lovely thing to do as well and significantly less people are taken the piss out of now that there’s less au pairs....we’ve not had an extra unhappy one living in our au pair’s flat for a couple of years now.

I’ve never been an au pair 😆 I do think it can be a nice a nice experience for a young girl staying with a lovely family who look after her + she mucks in 25h/week.
But yes, I do think some people abuse the system and take advantage of vulnerable young girls, often with limited English making them work long hours for a pittance of pocket money.

JoJo if you’re not happy with the terms of being an au pair- why are you doing it again? Generally it’s a stepping stone to bigger things, either to improve your English, discover a new culture and travel, or to start life in a new country. It’s not meant to be a ‘job’. It’s meant to be a fun thing to do for a few months with a nice family to support you.

Now that you have the experience, get a summer nanny role.

@JoJoSM2 and the offset is £42 a week. On minimum wage at 25 hours they would still have less disposable income than the au pair (£109 Vs £115).

Not to mention that accommodation of virtually any sort would be inconceivable anywhere near £42 in London. I understand why the offset is set the way it is (and how it can protect minimum wage workers) but it is a bit ridiculous to have it the same whether you're in Merthyr Tydfil or Zone 1. Yes there are limitations on au pair accommodation, but the discount off market rate is huge. My friends share rooms in grimy HMOs without living spaces (as they've gone for bedrooms) and unpleasant flatmates for £90-£100 a week.

@Stuckforthefourthtime I'm comparing au pairs to young people living in accommodation provided by employers charging the max amount legally allowed (incl utilities, laundry etc).

Au pairs live with the family/employer, usually with limitations on having friends over etc It's nothing like sharing a property with friends or a boyfriend.

JoJoSM2 Assuming 35h/week at min wage for 21 yo - offset accommodation charge (as per government allowances) - that would still be about 215-220 for the worker

But it wouldn't be in real terms.
Minimum wage at £7.70 x 25 hours a week - £189 net take home (or even assume it's 35 hours, so £251)
Cheapish but decent double room including bills in outer west London £125
Cost of transport including commuting daily by bus £22
Cost of mobile contract £3
Cost of food £20
Disposable income left would be £19 at 25 hours, or only £70 at 35. Plus plenty of au pairs have use of cars, gyms etc, some have en suites and the like.

Yes, minimum wage in London is below a true living wage and should be increased... But it simply isn't the slave labour stated. Plenty of au pairs (including me on my first family) are clueless and need a lot more guidance than a nursery worker earning minimum wage.

Hi ^^
I'm an au-pair and yes, you can safe as an au-pair if you don't go out or don't spend anything if you do. Here's my experience :
Ten years ago I was an au-pair in Ireland, I was given 110€ pocket money and after three months I managed to safe about 600€ by only visiting Dublin once and not going out and, as you can see, I still spent quite a lot of money (travel, eating out, some clothes).
Next time, 2016-18, in London, I was given 85£ which increased to 120 after I offered to replace their cleaner. I only went out on the weekends (not at night, just visiting the city). Going to central twice a week was about £20 + lunch + maybe a snack/hot chocolate + dinner if I came back late... It was very easy to spend £80 in one week. I would take care of my toiletries (shampoo, face cream, sanitary pads...). In two years, you need clothes, books, tickets to teavel back home... If you manage to safe any money, you spend it when those extra things come round. My phone broke after only three months here and I had to get a new one.
How I learned to safe: take sandwiches from home for lunch and be back for dinner.
At the moment I'm back just for the summer, £120, I don't go out during the week except when the library is closed on Wednesdays and then I treat myself to Costa, but that's £5 minimum. I've been here a month and I have saved about 100€ that will pay for my return ticket.
So yes, you can safe if you do nothing but that's not the point of the experience.

In my most honest opinion, I think that au-pairs should be paid more in a way that they start with 100 or something like that and as they get experience they get oaid more every x months because at the end of the day families are getting very cheap childcare and most of them still ask for languages, experience, teaching qualifications, being older than x... But regardless of how prepare some of us may be, we get all paid the same... Obviously its not the family's to blame, it's a cultural thing.

Stapelberg Your au pair is looking after your child for 3 nights and then an additional 7 hrs? That looks about 30hrs to me?

It's absolutely none of your business whether she saves any of that or not. It's her money, not yours. None of your business if any other an pairs have saved either

You are getting incredible cheap childcare, and you say "your sympathy is waning".

It's 4.60 an hour assuming 25 a week. Yes she also gets a room and food paid for, but still it's not very much. You can't say you have less disposable income, she's a young woman and you've chosen to have DC, completely different priorities as to what you spend your money on, if you didn't have DC you would have more disposable income because you wouldnt have her salary, which is automatically what she is spending.

I doubt many au pairs genuinely work 25h/week. Often it's 25+ 2 babysits so 35 - a full time job basically or 'au pair plus' at 35h/week and often babysitting on top so long hours overall. Not to mention lack of National Insurance, pension etc

Assuming 35h/week at min wage for 21 yo - offset accommodation charge (as per government allowances) - that would still be about 215-220 for the worker.

Stuckforthefourthtime

Sole charge of a child isn’t nursery work.

herculepoirot2 yes, but au pairs are working 25 hours a week, not 40. And how much do you think a nursery worker - with relevant childcare qualifications - is paid an hour? Many of them are on minimum wage and would have considerably less per week after meeting their bills.

Yes, the au pair system can lead to exploitation and could do with more oversight. But I also don't think that the wages in themselves are exploitative, in a half decent family.

I challenge you to show me many young people on minimum wage in major cities who still have £115 disposable income weekly after paying for rent, food, transport (as most au pairs get an oyster card), mobile, internet and utilities.

It’s childcare, not a minimum wage job.

You need to compare like for like. Even if a young person works for a minimum wage and gets money deducted for accommodation and food, they are still left with loads more than an au pair.

But you are also not comparing like with like. An au pair works ~ 25 hours a week, not full time.
I challenge you to show me many young people on minimum wage in major cities who still have £115 disposable income weekly after paying for rent, food, transport (as most au pairs get an oyster card), mobile, internet and utilities.

I don't have an au pair, but was one and had one crap family and two lovely ones, and it really doesn't have to be slave labour.

As stucknoue points out, £400+ per month disposable income is more than a lot of people have after paying bills, food, rent etc.

So? A lot of people have more financial commitments than a woman in her early twenties. You’re still not paying her a proper wage.

You need to compare like for like. Even if a young person works for a minimum wage and gets money deducted for accommodation and food, they are still left with loads more than an au pair.

Or do you want to compare them to a nanny who lives in a flat share? They’ll also have loads more money leftover.

The whole au pair system is exploitative and bound to result in conflict between employers who aren’t really employers and childcare workers who aren’t really workers. Messy.

I have a 22 year old au pair, I pay her £80 a week. I buy and cook the food, do her washing w ours, clean the whole house myself (she cleans the kitchen at night before bed on a Saturday, Sunday and Monday night when I'm at work).
She never goes anywhere (her choice) and sits on her phone all day everyday. She tucks my child in on a Saturday, Sunday and Monday night. She looks after him those nights (he sleeps all night) and she has him 4 hours on a Sunday and 3 hours on a Tuesday. She's supposed to work 30 hours a week but does nothing anywhere near that. She has more than one small wallet bulging w cash. Saves every penny. I pay for all family trips and any other bus trips where my child is involved.
Don't think I'll EVER get an au pair again. Really like having another child and instead of making my life easier, it's a ton harder...

Assuming you pay for all food in the house, all expenses out with the kids etc it's a fair wage for just fun, most youngsters don't have that much disposable income if they are working a typical entry level job and flat sharing! I'm not surprised she doesn't save, many youngsters don't but with future au pairs I would not pay in advance

It all depends what that amount is for?

She eats and sleeps for free (presumably you also cover her travel costs? Oyster card?)

So she covers: clothes, hair cuts, coffees, going out with friends, hobbies etc. On just £16 a day. That's very little.