rookie au pair employer question

[margoandjerry]

We currently have a full time nanny for 2 DCs (5 and 2.5) but my son will start at school (nursery class) in Sept so I am exploring other options. An au pair is an option as we have a small spare room and a bathroom that she could share with the DCs. I work full time but don't need any help in the morning - only after school from pickup to about 6.

So far so good but what happens about holidays? I want someone full time in the holidays. Would an au pair be able/willing to do this? Obviously it would cost more but money wouldn't really be the issue - it would all be much much cheaper than using a nanny so I would obviously be happy to shell out for this. But are au pairs allowed to do this? I thought there was some rule about hours per week. Any advice welcome.

Hi,

I am sure that it is ok if the person is legally allowed to work in the UK. Please bare in mind that you need to sort out your au pairs tax and NI if she earns a certain amount. Also from an aupair views of point i would rather write in the contract that she works for example 25 in term time and lets say 40 in school holidays however pay her the same amount every week. Lets say £100, which I think is fair. Maybe you could give us a better idea of what exactly the aupair would have to do.

Sorry for bad spelling but writing from my mobile.

thanks for replying.

Term time duties would be: 3-6pm. Pick up from school 1 minute away and take DCs home or to their activities. Feed them (I usually do the cooking and leave stuff to be reheated), general childcare duties. They will be 6 and 3 so need plenty of interaction. Not too much homework to supervise yet. Bath them. I'm imagining it would be acceptable to request light housework as well. Keep kitchen clean and tidy. Empty dishwasher. Keep their bedroom tidy. Put hoover round once per week. Put washing machine on as and when.

Holiday duties would be: sole charge 8.30 till 6pm. I don't like them to flop around at home too much so I would expect the au pair to take them to the park, to playdates etc.

At the moment my nanny does all this and full cleaning too but she is exceptional and lovely.

What BornToShop says is a good idea but what happens if the children are ill and can't go to school? Will you be able to take time off or would you need the au pair to cover? What if she had classes etc?

I looked after twins boys and when it was time for them to go to school, I was on call if anything happened, it worked out that of the 36 weeks a year that they were at (private) school, they were off sick a total of 9 weeks, just odd days here and there for coughs and colds and then a few longer periods for ear, throat, chest infections and tonsillitis. Then there was the added teacher training days etc which was almost another week.

So your au pair could end up working full time 6 months of the year.

I would get a bit pissed off if I had to drop everything I had planned because I had to work at short notice, especially if I wasn't "retained" for this kind of situation. BUT that might be because I have been a nanny for 25 years!

If you explain it all at interview, then they have the chance to decide.

Callaird:

Somebody who wants to work with children, should always be prepared for a situation like this. Of course children get ill. The OP could put a clause in the contract, saying something like: If children a sick, we would need the au pair to work the whole day... either the OP can reduce the hours the next week (OP needs 15h of childcare, add another maximum of 10h for light housework - OP could say don't worry about the ironing/whatever needs to be done) OR OP could pay overtime.

yes I'd always be happy to pay for this. It's less about the money for me (because I would save so much over having a full time nanny anyway) than about having an arrangement that works and I'm just not familiar with the different types of arrangements that people have with their au pairs.

It's good to know that this is all normal-ish. Now to work out how to find someone good. I'm quite anti-social so that's going to be the biggest challenge - having someone in the house all the time.

I would say school hols are okay but expecting sick cover isn't especially if the AP is coming to learn English and has college courses, which often run term time only.