Can we talk about au pairs please !

[Hididi]

My family is considering getting an au pair. Brexit has of course completely changed the industry and made it impossible for people to come over and work for families unless they already had a pre settled status.
So my question is- are people still hiring au pairs at the moment? if so are they doing it illegally on a 6 months tourist visa?
If you are currently looking for an au pair can you tell me how you are going about it and how long you've been looking?

Thanks a lot!

Yeah I agree with this comment. The thing with doing it legally and through an agency is you can get DBS checks and references.

I do want to help Ukrainian refugees (for example by donating to refuges and other charities) but paying one to come over and look after your child on the cheap isn't the best solution for anyone imo

@Hididi I work with an agency that sends young adults to work abroad on short term contracts. There are plenty of agencies that will bring au pairs to the U.K. legally, from Europe, Australia and the USA. References will have been checked, police checks completed, visa paperwork in place etc.

I am really struggling with why you would hire someone you (invariably) found off the internet to work illegally for you, looking after your children????? Just because “everyone else” is doing it doesn’t mean it’s right. I am genuinely worried for your children.

I know a lot of people who have them on tourist visas. It's the only way since brexit. Govt keep promising to sort it but as its a "womans issue" there's no prioritisation of it.

@BookwormButNoTime The fact you say agencies can provide visas for aupair to come and work in the UK on short term contracts shows you know nothing because that is not possible at the moment.
Your opinion about my family or the matter in general has no impact on me, I just want to hear from people with au pairs. Legal or illegal.

Erm, I know of in excess of 30 American au pairs working in London right now through my work so I would beg to differ.

If you employ someone with no right to work you could get a big fine yourself you know.

@Eucalyptusbee Yes so many. Brexit totally killed that industry for foreigners wanting to learn English within a family whilst providing support and childcare. I felt really bad for all the agencies I spoke to, who had to completely give up on that side of their business. Are you close to the people with au pairs on tourist visas?

It is illegal yes. But it was a perfectly good system up until a few months ago and its been made illegal for no reason.

It was a terrible system that was massively prone to widespread abuse, whereby people treated young untrained people as cheap childcare, paying them £80 a week and often treating them essentially as a live in nanny.

Why don't you get a nanny or childminder if you need childcare?

Sorry, they are Canadian, not from the USA.

There a number of countries from which people can come to the U.K. as au pairs. Granted they are not from Europe, but you can hire a European for part time work if they are on a student visa. So agencies can get you a European au pair, just not a full time one.

I know a few people still using au pairs.they are offering high £££ to get the handful with pre-settled status or other legal Visa statuses. I don't know anyone "bringing girls over to work on tourist visas" that's called trafficking in case you weren't sure

So you can get exactly what you are after through a proper legal route. That is what I am really struggling with. Why on earth would you hire someone illegally when you can do it all above board?

oh yes. It’s cheaper.

@InChocolateWeTrust Trafficking😆

Why are you so sure I am not one of those people ready to play extra to get someone with the right documents? Which I am. I have ads out and my requirements are legal and offering a generous salary.
However enquiring about how a lot of people are doing it via the tourist option is understandable and Im going to carry on doing so 😊

Oh actually if you know they didn't have permission to work then you could get a prison sentence too. Unsure it's worth it.

Absolutely this. As someone who has worked in the regulated childcare sector this forces down the wages of women working within the sector by providing childcare in the cheap. It was obviously problematic hence the government make no facilities for workarounds in the post Brexit legislation.

@BookwormButNoTime which agencies are these? Not being sarky, I'm in the same boat as OP and any agencies I apply to have no one available!
It's all very well to say get a nanny. I've had nannies for years and I have yet to find one who can do school runs morning and afternoon without expecting to be paid for the hours in between (fair enough of course). So you'd pay for a full time nanny to do the school run? That'll cost you £40k per year.
Hence the middle ground of au pairs who used to be able to go to English lessons during the day!

Au pairs don't only come from the EU. You can employ a British or Irish aupair with no visa requirements,.

I know someone who had a series of au pairs on tourist visas. This was several years ago in my native country, and this person was an immigrant who imported au pairs from her (European) native country because she wished her children to be exposed to her native language. Although this couple was wealthy, they were cheap and didn't want to pay the legal route.

As an observer to this over several years (the couple were part of my extended family), I would say it was a mixed bag. The au pairs were less qualified than nannies and a lot of them were simply not interested in children. Some of the less mature ones expected that they were getting a holiday and were bored by the nature of the work, especially if they had only done babysitting. A few au pairs were wonderful, but I'd broadly guess that 2 out of 10 were good. Although the couple had au pairs for several years (four children), none ever returned, and when I asked the mum why, she said that the job simply wasn't much fun for a 19-24 year old.

The NHS problem is a big one. Also, and simply, the stress of doing something illegal. When the au pairs had to enter the country, they need to lie about their reason for entering. In the case of the couple I mention above, this ended our relationship as they listed me as the contact/"friend" for the au pair, and I was so incensed at being drawn into this fraud I no longer speak to them.

Well, not more than your typical au pair arrangement.

@exceptmeandmymonkey This is very interesting thank you. I would have been very angry if someone had done that to me too.

@InChocolateWeTrust exactly that, cheap labour

All the au pairs I have come across have been from English speaking, mainly
Commonwealth, countries, presumably because the parents of young children didn't want communication struggles. There seem to have been quite a few around here for the last couple of decades. Have workers from non-European countries also been affected by Brexit?

@amicissimma probably just realised poor pay for whats wanted and they can earn more other ways with minimum wage in this country

Your idea of exploitation is warped. Under the EU, au pairs had a right to travel and work and were protected by EHIC, neither of these things are true now.

I don't think it is that bad a deal. It depends on what you want and where you are au pairing but in London, you're usually getting £150/week, plus extras like phone/travel paid for, accomodation in London (worth £600 min a month), no real expenses (food etc all included) for 15-20 hours of work a week.

I would quite happily have taken that deal when I was a young adult to live somewhere fun for a year and I don't think you can easily do better unless you have a qualification of some sort.

Admittedly, I wouldn't have been so keen on Sussex (sorry OP)

Most au pairs work a lot more than 15-20 hours/week