To think this role as advertised is not an au pair?

[Nextphonewontbesamsung]

I've seen a job advertised on a local Facebook page. They want a bi-lingual "au pair" to work a 35 hour week, doing childcare and house-keeping, for £100 p/w. There is talk of additional hours (evenings/weekends I guess) being paid extra although no mention of the rate.

In other words they want (almost) the equivalent of a live-in Nanny for £100!!

Wibu to point this out publically on their post? This is in London btw.

definitely not an au-pair. when would they have time to go to school/ do cultural learning that is part of the whole experience.
it sounds like attempted exploitation. but I doubt it matters.
who on earth would accept such a position on such terms.
not even minimum wage. doesn't meet the criteria for au-pair.
f-t nannies in London can get 500 pounds a week.
why would they bother with this.

You could perhaps post a link to what au pairs do perhaps with an, “au pairs work x number of hours, take a look at this”, rather than publicly calling them out. Do you know this person?

Not an au pair, not legal but not surprising, sadly. I've seen similar advertisements. I've had four friends have au pairs. Two were very fair and only went that route b/c one parents job meant au pair wasn't working full time and had time to study, travel etc. For example one friend's dh only worked mornings, so au pair had work 7:30-12:30 and then was free for courses, cultural enrichment etc. And they used her to baby-sit and paid extra for Saturday night date night.

Then I know someone who literally worked 17 year old au pair like a working dog. It sickened me. I and others said something. It was shocking the level of ignorance about what was fair and absolutely not. Au pairs shouldn't be scrubbing toilets and scrubbing your dirty BBQ from your dinner party while your two children under 2 she cares for full time are napping.

Not really relevant but in France legally it's pretty difficult to legally get an au pair. Lots of contracts and administrative hoops to jump through. Minimum cost is 11k€ including social charges. They can work a max of 20h/week and have to be in education. They also cannot look after kids under 2 alone.

Sounds like

In Ireland a few aupairs have taken their previous employers to the employment court and won huge payouts for their ill treatment.

Sounds like modern day effing slavery to me! I think you should comment on the ad OP. Hopefully you might make some young naive girls think twice about getting suckered in and then stuck.

Ugh - I hate seeing au pairs exploited. when we had a FT Aupair her ‘job’ was to pick 2 of the children up from school and take them to the park / otherwise entertain them while I did a school run across London to pick up our older child. No babysitting. No housework.

Previously we had a summer Aupair (the same lovely French girl both years) who helped entertain the DCs during the summer holidays. Her role was ‘extra pair of hands’ and someone new to entertain the DCs. DH was at home and we also had a brilliant PT nanny.

Wikipedia tells me the minimum pay for 18 - 25 year old is £6.15 per hour, so over £200 for what they are wanting. I suppose you could say that there was £100 rent and board charge but it would have to be clear in the contact or they would be in trouble with HMRC.

You could ask for a breakdown and how their terms stick to au pair/minimum wage requirements?

I would imagine that they’re hoping to get an illegal immigrant, or at least very willing to turn a blind eye.

Wallywobbles

My friend when she was an aupair in France had sole charge of 4 kids under 6 including a 6m old baby and was paid a pittance so the French aren’t immune to exploring their aupairs.

Can you add a note under the ad ?

Such exploitation in the UK - or France - is by disgusting people who break employment laws

Please call them out on it. Post under the ad with a link to what ah pair work should be

HMRC rules are a little different for au pairs, they're exempt from minimum wage for example and there are some rules you need to follow to ensure that you are "hosting" them rather than employing

www.gov.uk/au-pairs-employment-law/au-pairs

Current recommendations from the British Association of au pairs is the following:
Pocket money must be minimum £90 per week for 30 hours to include any evening babysitting requirements, regardless of whether the minimum hours are worked. Many agencies recommend slightly higher pocket money. All expenses relating to the Au Pair’s role must be paid in full by the family

They usually do light housework too.
So, yes they are slightly over on the hours, but they are recommended hours only.

Our lovely au pair is gets £118/week for 27 hours and a babysit in the evening. During term time, she mainly does school drop off/pick up and then looks after the kids bedrooms, puts away their clothes and does their ironing. She also has her own flat next to our house and her own car.

I personally think that the regulations are a bit wooly, but there are less people wanting to be au pairs currently (maybe due to Brexit and a higher standard of living in some of the former Eastern Bloc EU countries), so a lot fewer au pairs seem to be exploited than previously. It's easy to leave if you feel that you're not getting a good deal, especially in London.

But 35 hours per week is a full time job. I know they are paid under minimum wage because of board and lodgings but when is this AP going to have time to go to language classes for example? I think this family are being cheeky fuckers.

Au pairs can work 35 hours. For example if you work shifts and need overnight care regularly then it's easy to go over 35 hours.

If the family are using an Au pair as a substitute for a nursery/ nanny then that's a different issue and of course not within the guidelines of what an Au pair is....

YANBU
Total CFery and attempting to find & exploit the most naive youngsters from abroad

I'd warn under their ad that they are trying to emply a ft nanny / housekeeper for au pair pocket money

35 hours minimum plus babysitting - could easily be over 40 hours weekly

An au pair is supposed to be treated like family
and to have time to attend language classes and learn about British culture

They are not qualified in childcare - or they'd be coming as nannies -
and the housekeeping on top is added CFery

Sadly very common where I live in London - I used to see very young women (20 years or less) dropping off children at school with a baby in the pushchair and a dog that they had to walk. They looked utterly miserable. There's very little chance that the families are going to get high-quality childcare from someone who feels conned and probably has very little experience of looking after children on a full-time basis.

20 years ago I was a nanny in Golders Green. I was well paid, had good hours. Many of the au pairs I met in the park had longer hours than me, more jobs to do (housework etc)and the pay was very low. It’s a shame it’s still happening.

35 hours is far too many for an au pair. My experience is that an au pair is really for once your children are at school, so they do an hour and a half in the morning and another 3 or so in the afternoon, weekdays only. So more like 18 - 20 hours a week.

"if you work shifts and need overnight care regularly then it's easy to go over 35 hours"

That normally just means the au pair has to stay there overnight - sleep there - so available for any emergencies / illness
Not full-on childcare overnight,
or the au pair would be sleeping during the day and not getting much cultural / language benefit.

From that HMRC link, you need to be careful:

"they help with light housework and childcare for around 30 hours a week, including a couple of evenings babysitting"

If that reaches 35+babysitting - normal ft hours or more - then the au pair would be fully justified to complain

If they wanted a live-in ft job, without time for education, then most would apply for one with the pay to reflect that.

YANBU they need a live in full time nanny. I knew a woman a bit like this she basically wanted a fully qualified tutor, house keeper, chef all for the hourly rate you'd expect to pay a 12 year who was mowing your lawn for you.

Exploitive and may also depress the pay of nannies actually qualified for that degree of childcare

When I once looked for an aupair job a French couple working full time wanted someone to look after their 2 year old for 12 hours a day. For which they were offering 20p per hour. I kid you not. They also expected you to speak English with them in the evening.