Aupair placement less hour from London?

[RedVelvetRocks]

We are looking to move from London and I'm curious to hear of success/disaster stories of aupair placements.

I know the appeal of London, lot's of language schools, friends and activities etc.

I am just worried that we will have an aupair who might be bored/lost is we are not living close to the city.

It is likely that we will be 30 min fast train/45 min slow train into London, so not too far for day trips.

Do you live outside a major city? and have an aupair?
Any suggestions on recruitment? have used gumtree and aupair world with the most success previously.

We are currently looking at moving to a village just outside of a town, will this be a nightmare to recruit? will I be forever driving AP into town to do things? or should I stay closer to town centre to make this side of things easier?

I live in a rural location on outskirts of a small market town (with a bus route to a city which then has trains taking 45 minutes to get to London). Never had a problem getting au pairs, always inundated with applicants when I advertise (generally on gumtree).
The lure of an AP who can drive increases when you're rural, as getting DC around places becomes a bit of a drag (DS footie club is in a village 6 miles away from the church hall where DD does dancing at nearly identical times, etc..) but I've never found an au pair with good enough driving skills to be honest.

My current AP (my best ever) loves cycling, so I bought a bike (& helmet & lights & lock!) She loves it, and is very independent on it. Not much is within walking distance, so she'd be quite dependent on me without it.

I supply a mobile and monthly credit, so I can be contacted easily in emergencies. I also try to choose AP's who claim to enjoy things like walking, cinema and reading (rather than parties and gyms).

Conclusion: Move to wherever suits you best, and if that's a village, then choose an AP who loves cycling!

My parents live around 45 mins train journey from London, just outside a small town where you can get a bus to a bigger town and a train to London.

They've never had a problem getting au pairs - actually there seem to be quite a few around as there are lots of families with primary school aged children - but they do say it tends to either be older, independent ones with hobbies who they trust to drive the car or real homebirds who are happy mooching round the local area. That said their job is now housekeepery stuff with additional hours available for local families so may well attract a different type of candidate who is older/calmer/less likely to want to go out clubbing!

Our first au pair starts on October 11 and we live in Weybridge - similar distance on train to London. I had no problem finding an au pair but the girl who babysits for me who has been an au pair here for a couple of years did say to pay a decent amount of money as she did know of au pairs who arrived, found out other au pairs were paid more and then left quickly to go to another family. My friend pays £120 and my babysitter is paid £120 so that is what we have gone for (for an au pair plus - 35 hours per week). Babysitter said she would earn less in London but balanced by more to do.

I advertised on au pair world and had oodles of responses, and got it down to a list of a few of them with really good experience. I did advertise for a driver too - the journey is not far to DD2s nursery but a bit too long to walk. The lovely girl I have coming has lived and driven in the UK before. Can't wait for her to arrive!!

Would be careful of paying more than the NI threshold as that puts you in the realms of dealing with HMRC, registering as an employer, potentially sorting tax and, if your au pair is from a E. Europe, registration under the workers registration scheme.

IIRC - can't check at the moment - it's around £95 a week.

Good point - we are registering as an employer and will be paying just under £1.50 employer's NI per week as paying £120. I'd have registered anyway even if paying below the threshold to make sure we had the benefit of being the primary employer (and therefore the tax code) if she gets a job outside the home.

Will keep that rate in mind £120 and the registration stuff as well - good to know.