Au pairs post brexit

[Forestgate]

Government don't seem to care about affordable childcare and working mums.

Have a decent job but probably need to resign as can't get an au pair for school holidays and wrap around- I work shifts and no family.

Wrote to my mp (labour) who basically told me to go away

So demoralising

How about finding a non-eu based au pair?

Au pairs can't look after really little ones anyway

Post Brexit it is basically impossible to get an au pair. Legally at least. OP there are a few Facebook au pair groups where you may if you are lucky come across au pairs that have stayed since before Brexit and have pre settled or settled status.

For those trying to compare a nanny and and au pair: an au pair is a cultural exchange and should be treated as a family member. Housing, electric, water and other bills are included as is food, all meals. We also paid out lovely au pairs pocket money of £125 per week + mobile SIM card for 25 hours a week. OP says that smallest child is in nursery, but even if, there is no stopping an au pair looking after a 1 year old.

OP, can you find a reliable babysitter for your shifts? I'd try local Facebook groups for recommendations, seems to work well where we are.

There still seem to be au pairs around here but they seem to be from places such as Australia, Canada and South Africa, which has been the case for years. I've heard that many parents prefer au pairs with English as a first language, specially for smaller children.

It appears that they seem to be able to get whatever sort of visa they need, even if European au pairs can't.

I think you need to read a dictionary, your post makes no sense.

i was agreeing with her. She has no option for childcare.

My children’s nursery picks up older kids after school and monitors them doing homework, might that be an option?

An au pair isn't childcare and isnt suitable for sole charge all day through school holidays for a 1 year old AND two older children!

It was supposed to be a program to allow young people to stay with families to learn english in exchange for light childcare - typically before and after school for older kids in the way an older teen might collect younger siblings from school. Not all day and not really for babies and toddlers.

It was and is a widely abused scheme with people treating au pairs like live in nannies.

Op you need either a proper childminder, or perhaps a combination of holiday clubs and a nursery.

Yes, some do it wrong and treat the person badly (or at least, not well) but that’s no reason why it’s a bad thing as such

It's a bad thing because OP wants 15h of childcare a week for £100. That's less than £7 an hour, would you be happy earning that?

Childcare is expensive. Pretending it isnt is how we end up thinking it's ok that nursery staff are paid a pittance.

You do realise this post realise this post reads like an advert for Brexit.

Many working class people voted Brexit because they could not get a living wage, why don't you just pay a living wage?

Also can their dad help?

There are lots of people working shifts in this country and most manage without au pairs.

I agree that an Au Pair program could be a good win win cultural exchange, but it seems the OP (and many others) is just after cheap childcare.

I was an au pair to a European family with three children. I did the before and after school/ nursery care, including a one year old.

I loved it. It was an amazing experience I am still benefiting from decades later

you get pocket money, but the payment and reward isn’t financial- it’s cultural, as some pps realise

I find this an odd reason
we had au pairs for around 6 years in the early 2000- 20th years ago.
pat the time they were hard to get hold of and mostly form ex soviet block countries like Czech, Poland etc.

The reason at the time was because the relatively new “free movement” zone in Eu meant that young people form places like Germany, france, Spain etc could come and work at full time jobs without a working visa and they all (fairly obviously) referred that to au pair with pocket money
so they were hard to find and mainly back then countries that were or had only just entered the EU. Hence mostly ex eastern block.

so, theoretically, we should see a resurgence in au pairs from Europe now free movement has gone.
BUT,.yet agian the bird brains in charge of brexit forgot that this scheme had always run and actually helped families …according to the websites “ there is no route for au pairs to enter uk” and it would be “illegal”

genius🤦‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

What about a local A-level student looking to earn some money before going off to Uni?

And I also agree with other posters. Au pairs are for school age children - they are barely more than kids themselves! It takes a lot of work to support an au pair properly and you are very much their parent too during the time they are with you. They are only useful for doing school run (and ours asked..I would not have risked my kids in a car with them) , organis No post school homework and snack and then getting them outside to run off some energy before we got back. A couple f them liked to cook so would occasionally cook a family meal. They did he dd bit of light chores like hanging washing or taking in if I asked,
you do not get au pairs to do childcare for re schoolers - as much as anything the au pair should be spending part of the day at language school and studying.

Walked not asked

A lot of people are just keen to pile on without actually reading my posts or bothering to find out what an au pair actually is / how the set up works.

I need the wrap around for the school age children.

The little one goes to nursery - has much longer hours, open 51 weeks per year

To those that have suggested Ideas thank you

I'm a single mum to 4 year old and have also been considering an au pair as I would love to have another language being spoken in the house, offer somebody a cultural experience (as I had) and yes, do some babysitting and wraparound care. However, like you it seems almost impossible at the moment.

My current solution is that I found a student (a trainee primary school teacher) on childcare.co.uk and she does wraparound nursery care, so this is picking up at 6pm, taking home, doing bedtime etc before I get home about 8pm. This is only twice a week at present. It's not cheap either (£10.50 an hour) but cheaper and more flexible than a nanny. Still I pay nearly £1000 a month on childcare for 1 little girl and this is in the East Midlands and with the 30 hours of so-called "free childcare". I am lucky to have a job that can fund this (just!!) but it's really no picnic. Wishing you luck.

Having an au pair is usually a rich person taking advantage of a young person by paying them a pittance to look after their children whilst unqualified to do so and whilst they’re unfamiliar with the country so I can’t get too upset about it’s decline!

Try bubble childcare or koru kids.

Rubbish - we had an au pair, she was lovely and my DD keeps in touch and has even stayed with her and her new young family.
Whilst it isn't for people on a low wage, we also aren't rich, do you have a clue how much childcare costs? its the most expensive in Europe.

AP done properly, allowed people from across the EU to work and learn a language, it also went vice versa from the UK, my DD best friend learnt fluent Spanish as an au pair, her mum and dad worked in a factory, so not wealthy, she went on to study journalism (1st in family to go into HE) & now works for a major 'paper.

If it was abused, then thats down to the uk and its piss poor law enforcement, baby and bath water.

I suspect you’ve never even met someone working as an au pair.
ours had their own flat, car, board full paid for, gym membership and £120/week tax free. We’re still in touch with most of them too.

i think it’s a lovely way of discovering a new culture in a safe way. DD is looking to do it when she’s older.

I’ve known several actually and they’ve been treated terribly hence my opinion. You sound like you’ve treated yours better and that’s great but that’s not what I have seen.

I was an aupair. Some families were really bad, but most were ok and equally some absolutely went above and beyond.
It wasn't just rich people. It was cheaper than wrap around. It allowsd me to learn language and experience different country without having to worry about work and bills and such. Great way to get familiar with the unfamiliar country unless you are unlucky with the family.