friend paying au-pair peanuts

[houmousexual]

I have a friend who is very wealthy, lives in a big house, thinks nothing of spending £££ on all sorts of overpriced rubbish, constantly talking about her holidays, how much she spent on her handbag etc. She is very lefty, hates the Tories, Labour this Labour that, reads the Guardian.

Anyway she just told me that she is paying her au-pair (19 year old scottish girl) just £100 pounds per week. this girl is expected to do all the cleaning and look after my friends daughter (mum doesn't work) bring her to and from school etc. She expects her to babysit in the evenings too and do some weekends. am i right to be shocked and dissapointed? i know she doesn't have to pay for a bed and food but i still think this is not a lot for a full time job and goes against whole left wing thinking (not having slaves).

And she gets room and board on top. Think thats about right for an au pair. She might be talking up what she gets the AP to do, as the cleaning sounds excessive.

Anyway, the AP is not a slave. Here, have a grip!

£100 a week is an au pair plus which is standard rate for about 35 hours a week.

So actually, she's is being absolutely scrupulously fair about it.

If you don't believe me, just google it.

I think au pair pay is about £50 - £70 a week. My friend paid hers £50.....

I thought us paid only get £70pwk?

It's only supposed to be 25 hours so I think £100 is very generous with only school aged kids, a non working mum an food and board on top.

£100 is at the high end of AP 'wages' but it doesnt sound like an AP to me. For a start she's Scottish and APs are language students.

for less hours than that I should say....

I'm not sure what the going rate for an au pair is op, brilliant username btw!

My friend (who is lovely) has au pairs from a local language school. They are part of the family, do a bit of childcare (one Dd at school) and walk the dog etc. I think they sometimes do a bit of cooking but by no means every night. They seem to have a brilliant time but then my friend is very kind and generous. Not sure what she pays them. Anyway, my point is that I thought au pairs were a bit different to nanny's in terms of the work they do and so their salary was also different.

Are you sure this is a friend and not someone you hate? You sound like a frenemy. If she has money and spends it on what she wants to, good for her. Should she be poor just to make you less bitter?

£100 is extremely generous.

Are you jealous of your 'friend'? I would be

Wow, i am shocked. It seems like she is always with the girl and even though i love my friend, she spends more time with the au pair/nanny (not sure what her official title is) than with her mum. £100 spending money for all that work wow, i am surprised this is seen as being more than generous wage.

nope, not jealous. i didn't know what the going rate was and this seemed like very little, that is why i asked.

Au pairs are generally paid "pocket money" as they have no expenses to speak of. I wish I had a hundred pounds a week to myself to spend or save or do whatever I liked with it

However, your friend sounds as if she likes to get her pound of flesh by having the au pair doing all the cleaning with babysitting on top. But if all she has to do is look after a kid or two after school and do the school runs she might have a fair bit of time to herself every day as housework hardly takes up the whole day to do in a normal house

So why is the fact she spends her own money relevant?

Obviously if you are not paying for your own room and board elsewhere that makes this a pretty good deal!

But it's £100 literally spending money! No food to buy, no rent or utilities! I think that's pretty good!

There's a big difference between a nanny and an au pair - most especially in the cost! A nanny is a professional, while an au pair is usually someone unqualified, young, often using it as a way of getting an experience in another country whilst getting some pocket money.

If she's only doing 25 hours a week of babysitting and a bit of cleaning and is living as part of the family then £100 is fine as au pair "pocket money".

If she's working full time and basically doing a nanny job then she should be paid minimum wage.

Au pairs are exempt from minimum wage only if they live as part of a family, sharing in meals and activities.

It's not just £100 for all that work though is it? It's bed, bills, food, often use of a car PLUS £100 in exchange for the work she does.

I think £100 a week for a young girl living away from home, with no rent/food/bills to worry about is very good actually! It's either plenty of spending money to fritter at will or a pretty good way of saving up a nest egg.

I bet the vast majority of MNers don't have £100 a week to send on whatever they like!

YABU

That's a perfectly decent deal for an au-pair.

Your opening paragraph is irrelevant, your "friend" can spend her money as she wishes. Jealous OP?

Minimum wage is £5.03. If we assume the au pair is doing a 35 hour week, she'd gross £176 in a 'normal' job. Given that the lass has no living costs, that isn't a bad deal. Even in the less nice parts of where I live, a room in a shared house would cost £70 per week. That would obviously be before food, transport, etc.

From an au pair agency website:

As an au pair plus, you can work 26-38 hours a week, as well as 1-2 (max 3) evenings babysitting. Pocket money ranges from £90 for 30 hours, £100 for 35 hours to £110 for 38 hours. You will not get paid extra for babysitting. You are considered to be working if you are required to be available and are not free to leave the house even if you are not actively working, for example if the children are in bed asleep. All live-in au pairs get their own bedroom and free food.

How can she always be with the child if the child is at school?

She probably drops her off in the morning, has the school day free, then picks her up at 3/3.30 and looks after her till 7/bedtime.That's normal for an au-pair. That would be 4/5 hrs a day.