Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Need a good au pair agency

33 replies

wiltslulu · 11/10/2010 19:48

Help!!

I followed advice and have been trying to contact people myself from gumtree but it's just not working out and I'm starting to really worry I won't have someone in time.

Can anyone give me a personal recommendation of a really good agency that will be able to help me. I need to find someone quickly and need a reliable driver and someone that doesn't have complications like not having the money for flights (is it normal for families to pay).

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

SnailWhaleTail · 11/10/2010 19:54

Just about to eat, but I found Abacus Au Pairs really good, and no, it's not usual for the host family to pay for the flights.

Hth

Original poster

wiltslulu · 12/10/2010 12:17

I've just had a look at the abacus web site but it looks out of date. They recommend £60 a week which seems low compared to other websites and the other information they give doesn't really inspire.

Did you already use other agencies and then found them to be the best?

I'd have thought there should be some sort of kite mark or a quality check of agencies to check they all do what they should be doing properly and information provided is concurrent.

OP posts:

frakkinstein · 12/10/2010 13:04

Nope it's not normal for families to pay flights.

Pay me and I'll find you an au pair

I've heard Millenium, Peter Pan, Almondbury, Toto's and aupairka mentioned on here. There are positives and negatives to every agency though.

frakkinstein · 12/10/2010 13:08

What sites are you using other than gumtree, by the way?

Easyaupair and aupairworld have a lot of rubbish candidates and it's quite fast moving.

The standard is higher on greataupair but you get a lot of Americans who can't come and work.

Gumtree is often used by those who are in the UK whose placements haven't worked out for whatever reason...

Lizcat · 12/10/2010 13:11

I got on very well just au pairs very knowledgable and both my girls from them were excellent. On the first occasion they found me a girl with 3 weeks notice.

Yes all my au pairs paid their own way to the UK I provided them with a list of airports/ports that I was able to collect them from.

HarrietTheSpy · 12/10/2010 13:16

Abacus's website is crap, I agree, but Debbie is great. We've done really well with them. Painless recruitment process and on the cheap end in terms of fees. Almondbury is a very very expensive Au Pair World, not really an agency although it calls istelf that.

frakkinstein · 12/10/2010 14:08

The Abacus site is crap indeed! Some of the info is just plain wrong (like the not paying tax/NI). They only don't pay tax/NI if you're paying them under the threshold. If you pay then they do!

NewTeacher · 12/10/2010 15:31

abacus aupair agency is very good. as said before the website is not brilliant. £60 is low but then she is not based in London. Having said that I'm in London and pay £70 but do offer other perks.

Debbie is very good extremely helpful and I've had 4 au pairs from her int he last 4 years. Her fees are not ridiculous like some other agenies and she places AP's nationwide.

DadInsteadofMum · 12/10/2010 17:18

It is not just about the quality of the website but the quality of the information on there. If that is the information they are giving out to families and au pairs then I would be concerned.

frakkinstein · 12/10/2010 17:27

In other news apparently BAAPA, following an employment tribunal has decided au pairs are employees under the working time directive and get 4 weeks holiday plus Bank Hols.

here

They seem like an agency who know their stuff at least partly!

HarrietTheSpy · 12/10/2010 17:32

You always have to take advice from these people with a grain of salt - even our payroll company scarily gives shoddy advice from time to time. It doesn't come cheap AND they claim to be legal experts, as part of the service.

There are more informative/accurate websites but I wonder how their actual track record in placing au pairs compares. And they charge a hell of a lot more for it.. Wonder why she just doesn't update that thing though. Maybe she's busy placing au pairs whereas the others have a lot of time for their interneting...

DadInsteadofMum · 12/10/2010 17:47

"we feel it necessary to advise all our families to offer 1 weeks paid holiday for every 3 months of stay as standard" - sounds like they advise it should be given grudgingly, and even so the advice is still wrong, implying that if they were there they 5.5 months would only get one week rather than the 12.8 days they would be entitled to.

frakkinstein · 12/10/2010 18:54

Well it's 1 week every 3 months plus the Bank Holidays...so it's a start.

I'm still waiting for a response, any response, to my letter by the way. I did get a couple of acknowledgements that it was received and the matter 'under investigation'.

DadInsteadofMum · 12/10/2010 22:56

Well its a start that it was actually received.

Original poster

wiltslulu · 13/10/2010 09:59

Hi frakkinstein - I have tried the other online agencies you mentioned above and on teh other message. I didn't try easyaupair yet but will. I just don't have time to organise phoning different people - especially if it will be like my experience over the wekend with the ones I tried already.

Does most people here use online sites then? I'll try abacus today but from the information it would be nice to think you're speaking with an agency who know all the up to date things.

Do you know where abacus's au pairs mainly come from? Did anyone who's used them always receive proper references and so on. I feel loathe to pay a few hundred pounds to just have the au pair's own letters that they've writetn themselves sent over to me..! If I'm goign to pay an agency then I would like to feel confident that they have been properly checked out.

OP posts:

Original poster

wiltslulu · 13/10/2010 10:05

I just checked out the link and will try A2Z too. They have links to BAPAA which shows a list of agencies who are members - there's a lot so does anyone have personal experience of any others. Anyone try A2Z? Is BAPAA like OFSTED? Abacus aren't on this list - does this mean they don't get inspected or what?

OP posts:

DadInsteadofMum · 13/10/2010 10:07

BAPAA is a trade organisation they don't accredit or review their members. Nobody does - this is one of the problems.

SnailWhaleTail · 13/10/2010 13:20

Hi, I agree with Harriet, the Abacus website is gash but if you ring Debbie she is knowledgeable and when we chatted she gave me a realistic idea of what to pay bearing in mind where I live (South Coast)and the hours I needed. She also looked at my requirements and sent me selected CVs rather then just loads of random ones. My AP was happy with the service at her end too.

I have previously used AP world when I had loads of time but I just cannot be bothered now, I'd rather pay the £200 or whatever and not have to go through all the naus myself.

I am lazy! (But very happy with my lovely AP)

monikaa · 13/10/2010 13:36

Hi,
as I already said before, we tryed AUPAIRKA agency. I was very happy with their service, they were fast a provided my family with lovely au pair.
I think this agency is now recommended by bestbear.

Treeesa · 13/10/2010 14:12

You should try 1st Choice Au Pairs. If you are looking for an agency that does a
lot more than most for the fee then have a word with them. Rather than using
other agencies in other countries, they travel themselves to meet their au pairs
so you can speak with the person who has interviewed them. Their checks have
always been pretty thorough for me - but the best thing is that they will
often give a personal opinion about who they rated more than someone else at the
interview and why..

DadInsteadofMum · 13/10/2010 15:13

First choice au pairs: "A minimum of one weeks paid holiday for each 26 weeks that you have stayed with a family"

Oops

Original poster

wiltslulu · 13/10/2010 16:50

Thanks SnailWhaleTail - I am about to call them and will see what they can offer.

monikaa - sorry are you an au pair or a family? If an au pair then can you remember what background checks were done for you or what the interview was like? If you are the host mother then have you used them for other au pairs or just this one?

Treeesa - Have you used First Choice before? Did you always have the same service.

To all of you - Can you compare the agency you've recommended against other agencies you have used, or have you just used them once and stuck with them? Do you recommend an agency because of the au pair you have got or the service you get.. I still want to know what they will do for the money..

OP posts:

frakkinstein · 13/10/2010 19:17

For the money they sift through lots of rubbish, check refs and make sure the au pair is serious about au pairing.

They claim to give advice in the legal side if things but I trust that about as far as I could throw most of them. 90% of the time it's true au pairs don't pay tax, but saying outright they don't is potentially misinforming people. Likewise the 'au pairs don't need contracts' or 'au pairs don't get paid holiday' is misinformation.

2 words the industry has apparently just become familiar with: Employment Tribunal.

monikaa · 14/10/2010 09:10

Wiltslulu: am "host family".
this is first time when I used this agency. I did asked them to send me au pair's police check, which was in French language, luckly friend of mine is from France, so she help to translate it and I know it's real lol.

frakkinstein · 14/10/2010 09:56

French police checks are easy - big black diagonal line = all good!

Flip

1 2

Swipe left for the next trending thread