Au Pairs - how much do you check them out beforehand?

FrakkinP; your hypothesis is entirely correct: it is addiction and needles that scare me; I always take on Uni graduates and would not be surprised if they had tried a spliff or tab at some time during their formative years. If I were hiring 18 year olds I would certainly have a full list....

For National Insurance you have the Lower Earnings Limit (currently £95/week) and the Earnings Threshold (£110/week).

If you are above the Earnings Threshold you have to pay NI (and probably tax).

If you are below the Earnings Threshold but above the Lower Earnings Limit then the employer should register as an employer with HMRC as you are deemed to have paid NI for the purposes of accruing earnings related benefits even though you will pay no NI over.

For liability insurance your household policy probably covers you.

For health and safety unless you were asking her to lift an unreasonably heavy child you are probably OK.

The are legally required to have a contract and are entitled to 28 days holiday a year (pro-rated if their contract is for less than a year) and the working time directive the employer is required to keep an accurate record of holiday taken and pay hoiliday pay for any holiday not taken at the end of the contract.

Well, she's not a member of your family (unless she's related to you) - you pay her to do a job. I don't think you have to pay NI unless her wages are over £90 a week. I'm not sure about insurance but you do need a contract and to give her paid holidays etc.

Helterskelter - you probably already have liability insurance included in your house insurance (it's quite common. NI is based on amount earnt, not on job description so if you are paying your AP under about £100 (can't remember the exact amount but it's higher than most AP pocket money amounts) a week then you are ok, otherwise you may need to pay NI.
I treat my AP as an employee in that we have a contract with agreed notice period, she gets the legal minimum paid leave, but she is paid under the NI rate.

I don't quite see how an au pair can be a member of the family and yet an employee?

I took my au pair to task again tonight for yet again leaving me to get both kids into the car while she just looks on. Eventually she said that she could injure herself if she tried to lift the older one in. I said that if I - who had a c-section not long ago, and also a really bad back (!) - could do it, then so could she. And I was very sorry but it wasn't on to just keep watching as I do things she is supposed to do or have done and she couldn't just pick and choose which jobs she would and wouldn't do!

But if she's an employee could she sue me over health and safety rules(!?). Do I need insurance? Do I have to pay NI on her?(!) God, what other rules don't I know about "employing" an au pair?

I wonder if anyone ever ticks "Yes I used to use crack"

I would hazard a guess that likelihood of addiction/permanent harm is the cause. Also heroin and crack addicts are likely to steal to keep up their habit. Heroin and ketamine are injectable so there may be issues with shared needles and disease.

Also those mentioned aren't exactly 'starter' drugs. A lot of people have probably tried cannabis/cocaine/ecstasy once just for fun but to get heroin, crack or ketamine you probably need to be into your drugs pretty seriously. And have contacts in the drugs world. When I did drug awareness talks in schools we'd talk about the soft drugs they were likely to get offered (cannabis) or that are freely available on clubs (cocaine/E) and how trying those could lead onto serious addictions to crack/heroin etc.

But that's a complete hypothesis and there's probably a different explanation!

Why are you interested in those specific drugs - are they a different class of drugs or something? I mean, I think cannabis, cocaine and ecstasy are the most common drugs but you don't ask about them?

That's very comprehensive.

Query about the GHB usage though - in the hypothetical world where a poor AP had had her drink spiked she has technically consumed GHB and would therefore have to put down that she's used it although through no fault of her own. WWYD?

Here is the document - if you paste it into word the formatting should work OK. I also have a clause in the AP contract itself which gives me the right to enter their room and/or contact their next of kin if I have a suspicion of illegal drug taking.

Required Information

Please complete and sign the following:-

Permanent Address in Home Country
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Passport
Date issued ??????????..
Passport number ??????????..
Full name ??????????..
Date of birth ??????????..

Driving Licence
Date issued ??????????..
Licence number ??????????..

Please list, with dates and details, any accidents, fines and endorsements

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Drugs
Please indicate whether you have ever used any of the following

Heroin Yes/No
Crack Cocaine Yes/No
LSD Yes/No
Ketamine Yes/No
Gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB) Yes/No

Police
Have you ever been arrested, charged, or cautioned? If so please provide full details
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????? ???????????????????????????????????.
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Previous Employment
Has an employer ever dismissed you for misconduct of any kind? If so please provide full details
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Medication
Do you have any medical conditions which may affect your ability to perform your work, or which we need to know about in order to advise health workers in the event of a medical emergency? If so, please provide details.
????????????????????????????????????????.
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Next of Kin
Please provide contact details of your parents and any other key persons, so that we can alert them in the event of an emergency
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Signature:

I declare that the information given above is true

Signed????????.. Print Name????????.. Date ???...

Me too - could I CAT you for a copy, it can then become a paragraph within the standard contract.

"Saying all that, I do make mine sign a disclaimer when they accept a job, covering stuff like convictions, drugs, driving infrngements and the like. "

Excuse me, can I have a copy of this??? Sounds like a good idea.

I used to expect all this but I now rely pretty much on instinct given that (A) Any Dr's note can be faked and you have no way of telling if it is fake, (B) Most AP's will be able to persuade an aunty who she's babysat for a couple of times to act as a reference and tell you she is Mary Poppins, and (C) Some countries (eg UK for example) will charge a fortune for police statements, and even if they didn't they can take a long time and I think this is a hoop too far to expect someone to jump through for a job which is likely to last less than a year.

If the AP has previous AP experience then of course I follow it up, but I have learnt from the hands of an expert (nanny nightmare from a few years back) that all manner of documented/reference stuff cannot be trusted at face value, but instincts usually can.

Saying all that, I do make mine sign a disclaimer when they accept a job, covering stuff like convictions, drugs, driving infrngements and the like.

Onions if you don't have a contract defining misconduct (gross or otherwise) you run the risk of being sued for unfair dismissal, au pairs have full employment rights and any employer who fails to acknowledge this is leaving themselves wide open.

Au pairs are employees. They have a right to a contract of employment with all the bells and whistles just like any oher employee.

There have been numerous threads on MN about this and somewhere there's a link to a judgement from the European court which says they are.

Onion, I think those days are gone. And, I wouldn't be inappropriaately harsh. But say if I asked her about her medical history and she lied and then she was actually unable to do the job, it would be a problem.

An au pair is an employee under British law. Legally there should be a contract.

lol, fap!

discipliniary action/dismissal? Let's not forget that an AP is meant to be a guest in your house who you pay pocket money to in return for an agreed amount of help/work. There is no formal contract of employment here.

I'd actually struggle to provide a doctors note. I'm not sure who my GP is and I haven't been to see anyone remotely medical in years....

Doctors note would probably read something like: "Haven't seen her before. She appears to be sane."

I wouldn't ask for a doctors note. but i would ask some questions about her nedical history. And if she got the job and then it turned out she had lied about her health, then I would take approriate disciplinary action which may or may not include dismissal.

If I were young au pair from Poland and you asked for a doctors note, I might think you were a nut job and decide not to come work for you.

The agency I used supplied drs letter, police check and 3 references, so it cant be that unusual a request.

my AP volunteered a health check letter from her GP.
also police check. both were translated and fine
also spoke to previous employers on the phone.
she had been AP before so i guess she was asked for them previously?
and she seems lovely and great with my son (day 5 today...)

In most western European countries an infividual can ask for a copy of their police record, which they can then send to you - I have had French au pairs do this in the past.

I always request references and insist that they include a work tyoe email address (rathe than gmail hotmail etc) so that I can (a) follow them up and (b) be confident that I am not talking to the AP or her best mate via a different email address.

Never gone down the doctor's note route though.