To think that this advert for an live in au pair is grossly underpaid?

[salsmum]

I was just browsing on a job site and this advert came to my attention, AIBU to think that this is asking an awful lot of a potential au pair for £80 a week? and I thought carers were underpaid!.

Shocking!!! Is that salary legal?

You have to take into account that they are being offered accommodation as well I think. Au Pairs are always shockingly paid though. My friend was paid £4 an hour as a live in Au Pair

I'm not sure it can be??? ...and if the au pair isn't working they want her to stay in her room or feck off out.....

I thought an au pair was supposed to get free board/food/etc and then a small amount of money for their social life.

lol @ get-up-and-go attitude for £80/wk

That's despicable! They want a nanny and are calling it a au pair job because they're cheap. I wonder if they will get any applicants...

I think what they are after is a slave, not an au-pair.

Why do they want a picture if the candidate?

I really hope not louschmoo I'm not up on the going rates for au pairs but this seems ridiculously low in the cheesy photo they look so nice and honest too

The job they're describing is far more than an au pair should be doing.

I knew a mother from my son's school who was paying 100 GBP per week for a live-in for 3 kids, doing 40 hours a week, and ironing. She told me she felt she was paying too much for the nanny and I was shocked.

The "au-pair" situation is ripe for abuse, because they're not considered proper nannies.

Even factoring in food + board (say around 200 per week for a rented room + food shopping) that's still low for 35 hrs per week with that kind of responsibility.

Dog walking and evening babysitting. Seems like a lot expected. And weekend work.

I can't see the advert as on phone but from what you've all described why don't we tell them that slavery is illegal?

If we all emailed them maybe they could be shamed into being less cunty exploitative.

Sorry, but I have recently looked into au pairs through an agency and that salary seems to be the going rate. I understood it was around £75-£100 per week 'pocket money' plus full board and expenses covered (including covering the cost of language school) for around 30 hours per week of childcare & cleaning. So it seems within the bounds of normal.

I don't have an au pair BTW and would be very unlikely to employ one for various reasons.

Didn't see the dog walking part: I pay my dog walker £10 per hour!

I thought that an au pair would do max 15 hrs pw light childcare/housework, in exchange for food, board, pocket money and being treated as part of the family (so taken on family holidays, offered funded or part funded language lessons, use of car etc). I would say that if an au pair gets that sort of deal then maybe 80 per week would be ok - if they get the extras I mentioned. But I don't know what the going rates are - we don't have an au pair.

That's the going rate, more or less. When you consider rent and food (and it is not only food, but shampoo, toothpaste and all these bits and pieces), it is an additional £120 p/w approx plus most families pay for travel card and telephone (a further £30 p/w), so £230 for 35hrs comes to £6.57 an hour, which is over the minimum wage of £6.19 p/h. And normally people have travel expenses to work, so the actual net wage is even less than £6 p/h. My only objection is that normally au pairs are part of the family and they should definitely not be required to stay in their room when they don't work. Noone does that!

Lolapink I spos if she looks like an overweight,shellsuited, beer guzzling,chain smoking, chav she won't get to interview stage .

I definitely would not get an au pair to look after a 2 year old 35 hours per week. That is a job for a qualified nanny or childminder. I think if you have a couple of kids aged 8 plus that need picking up from school and ferrying around before tea, maybe.

It looks like the au pair in question wouldn't have much time to go to language school and what's the point of having 'english at a good level' - that's the whole reason for coming to the UK. So I agree - YANBU.

That is totally shitty, you can't care much about your children or your dog to pay someone that little to look after them, let alone having total disrespect for desperate person who takes the job

Those wages will buy you nine hours of dog walking around here, if you are lucky, and a pointer needs at least two to three hours a day.

Nasty people.

I think that's the going rate for an au pair tbh.

However what they have described doesn't sound like an au pair role to me at all. It's basically a nannying job they are advertising.

The deal with an au pair is they live as a member of your household. You help them arrange English classes, give them a room and feed them and also give them some pocket money. In return they do about 25hrs pw of light housework, babysitting etc.

I don't have an au pair btw but my friend does. Her au pair babysits 1 or 2 evenings a week. She also collects the children from school sometimes and might look after them for an hour or so afterwards until friend gets home but she doesn't do more involved childcare if that makes sense?

Can't get into the ad but our last au-pair left in 2010 and we paid her 80pw. She also got a large bedroom with en-suite,full board, a UK mobile with 5 per month, one call to mum in Sweden a week, a language course, one return flight home, guest use of a london sports club between 10 and 4 mon-Friday. We live a 15/20 min bus ride from the west end. Three weeks paid holiday - they get more now.

For that she did about 90 mins laundry each day (their ironing is slow,tidied the dc's bedrooms, emptied the dishwasher, collected dd from school at 3.30 - or later if there were clubs (ds came home on bus and arrived at 4.30). She had to be available for duty 3.30 - 6 depending on activities but there was give and take because sometimes she was free until 5. She was responsible for the dc's tea and ate with them.

Ours all stayed the full year and all seeemed pleased with the deal. The acco and board were probably worth 600 per month and I think that's forgotten.

Au-pairs are not suitable for the under fives imo and the arrangement is a cultural exchange. Ours were Swedish because their english was good and so was their cooking.

shocking - is it a joke?

7am to 1pm x 5 is 30 hours not 35 hours. Job holder is also expected to be available for TWO last minute babysitting, during which nanny/cleaner/parent would be expected to iron.