AIBU to expect more than £3.60 per hour as an aupair plus?

[navyeyelasH]

Hey everyone, just wanted to get a second opinion. I work as a nanny and have a load of childcare experience. The family I nanny for have decided (a bit short notice) that they are going away for 2 weeks as of Saturday 25th July (I get still get paid).

I normally arrange to work while they are away as I would die of boredom otherwise but as they only decided last minute I have been struggling to find some work. So I decided to look on an au-pair site - I registered my details and pretty instantly got a load of interest.

There was one woman I liked the sound of and I emailed her explaining I am not an au-pair and available for 2 weeks (she is from Italy holidaying in St Agnes for 2 weeks). By the sound of it she wants me to do the sort of work I do as a nanny and for 25-35 hours per week.

I will be staying with the family in their holiday home and I will be eating with them (I'll eat what I'm given not fussy). The little boy is three and she wants me to teach him a bit of English, do his laundry and ironing, keep him entertained, cook meals for the little one and evening meals for all of us. Which is fine by me but for £90 a week, is that right ?

I wasn't expecting a normal nanny wage obviously as she was looking for an aupair initially. But £90 seems like a joke?!

oooh good guess!! i hadn't read to the top so didn't see PDs post til after i posted.

Justaboutgrowing up, that is our view too. We recently had both our former au pairs visiting, so we had "3 generations" of au pairs in the house, together with our current. The boys were delighted to have all 3 girls together. They hadnt met before, only contact they had prior was giving references on us to the next one! They have become good friends of the family and we stay in touch. I have been through boyfriend trouble, relationship breakups, clubbing issues and spiked drinks (on their behalf) with them. I never viewed them as employees, but as a young person on a cultural and linguistic exchange who was helping out in the house and with the children in return for accommodation and food, pocket money (£75 per week for au pair plus in London) with benefits such as Oyster card, mobile phone and leisure centre membership. You cant really compare this to earning a salary, or being a nanny.

Minimum wage is £5.52 for over over 21's and £4.60 f4.60 for 18 -21 year olds. So you should get more than that.

Sorry I haven't read the whole thread so apologies if I have misunderstood - but I honestly thought someone described as an au pair was not meant to work a 35 hour week. Don't they work shorter hours so that they can do other things like attending language courses/study? And then in return they get tuition fees paid, board etc. So they work fewer hours for less actual cash, but get "stuff" paid for?

Sounds to me as though this person wants the op to work nanny hours for au pair pay? Which surely wouldn't be fair.

There is something like au pair plus, they can work up to 42 hours per week. For better pay. Standard in London is £55 per week for Au Pair and £75 for Au Pair plus.

Minimum wage doesnt apply to au pairs. They get board and lodging too. And often travel and mobile phone expenses covered, along with other things that a member of a family gets, such as gym membership. An Au Pair is not an employee. It is a young person who come on a cultural exchange and should be looked upon as member of the family.

The pocket money I paid my au pair was £75 per week. This is £300 per month. A pittance, maybe, but still just pocket money. She wont have to pay any bills, wont need to buy shampoo and other things that you need. All she has to pay is her own entertainment, make up and stuff such as tampons.

My true cost for the au pair was more like £600 per month including mobile phone and travel. Not counting extra food bills, and entertainment expenses when she was taking the kids out. Then she could have lunch in Costa, or Starbucks, paid by me, provided my children also ate there.

a lot of the confusion about au pairs is that it used to refer only to someone on an au pair visa. someone on an au pair visa is subject to restrictions - imposed as conditions of the visa - re how many hours they can work and re their pay. see here. nowadays many people come to the UK from parts of Europe who no longer require any sort of visa at all - their work and pay isn't therefore restricted - ie it becomes a straight forward transaction between 2 people who agree what they like. minimum wage would still apply - but bed and board can be factored into this. presumably this is why beetroot's au pair wasn;t allowed in - ie because she didn;t have a full working visa.

none of which is relevant to the op. just clarifies what is an "au pair"

I think we can move on from 1960s definitions. The English language is very versatile and the whole immigration scene has changed since aupairs first appeared on the scene.

If an aupair is from the European Union, they can work 'fulltime' if that's what both of you want, and you are willing to go along with NI and tax considerations.

The sentiment behind the aupair programme is that you get a young girl to help you in the house and with children in exchange for some pocket money and an immersion into your language and culture. They should be treated as a family member if you are both happy with this kind of relationship.

There are some conventional understandings as to the responsibilities of the aupair (light housekeeping, taking children to school, etc), but you can add on to that if mutually agreable. For example, if the aupair is happy to do some petcare and gardening, there is no stopping you making an arrangement for her to do that within the agreed hours.

I think we just made the same point. when I said "clarifies what one is" in my add-on I didn;t mean it in a this-is-what-the-definition-is-and-no-one-else-is-an-au-pair type way - I meant to say that it explains why there is confusion, why some people say things like au pairs can only work x hours. when in fact the reality isn;t like that - as we both say, with changes in immigration law, 2 grown ups can come to whatever arrangement they like. (unless using an au pair visa)