Should aupairs in London earn more then outside of London?

[catepilarr]

That's it really. Having this discussion somewhere else where aupairs think in London they 'need' higher pocket money/pay. I am not sure why, they already have a room that would be quite pricey if they had to rent it and thay have London on their doorstep so they dont have to pay all the train or bus fare people living in the countryside have to? I understand that there is lots of places to spend your money but that doesnt justify the need of a higher salary surely?
What's other people's view?

interesting thread. well i suppose it could be a point. if its costing more money to do different activities/ days out even normal day to day things in london that can be done else where in the country for less then maybe they should earn more to cover this. i have no experience of london . i have never been but from what i have heard and read on here everything in general seems to be dearer than the rest of the country

Most salaries and wages even for live-in folk are higher in London, so I don't see why au pairs should be left out of that.

Swings and roundabouts really. Most of the jobs with London weighting have it to compensate for cost of living (rent etc).

It's all down to supply and demand and there are probably more APs who want to work in London than in the country do the country needs to be more attractive, usually fiscally, so in many ways it's the inverse!

I'd have thought that the higher wages in London are there to enable people to buy/rent somewhere to have a roof over their heads - if that is included (as I assume it would be for an au pair), then, like you catepilarr, I can't see why they should get more cash as well.

An interesting thread. In my experience countryside au pairs tend to get a higher "salary" because most aupairs want to live as close as possible to Piccadilly Circus/Oxford Street etc and families want to attract candidates to work outside London. It might be true that London is more expensive, but rent is covered and all the other things cost about the same. Boots isn't more expensive in London than it is in Reigate for example. Also au pairs in London don't have the travel costs every weekend, that maybe an au pair in the countryside has.

Maybe one thing that could be more expensive: the language school. But that's it really as far as I am concerned.

I don't think so as accomadation costs are the biggest expense.

In London a night out will mean a cheap journey home on a night bus, out of London probably a cab home. There are plenty of free galleries and museums in London. There is also a wide variety of cheap places to eat out. London aupairs can probably do more for less money than those out of London.

I think there are other factors that govern an au-pair's pay - eg how many hours they are expected to work, what they are expected to do etc. eg an AP Plus will earn more. I tend to also pay my AP a premium as she looks after 3 dc. APs in London may get a travelcard in addition to their pay, whereas an AP based out of town may have full use of a car. Some families may pay their AP more if they are older or have more childcare experience. I think it is all swings and roundabouts. As rightly said, the accommodation already provided, so I'm not sure what the premium in London would be for. IME, families based in rural areas seem to offer more to attract APs, as most seem to prefer London