Au pairs - what do/don't they do, how many hours can/do they work, etc.?

[Peppin]

I will need to find new childcare arrangements in about a year's time and am trying to work out what will be best. The DCs will be 11 and 9 by then so will only require after school care and maybe a bit of holiday time (though if pushed, I could probably arrange the school hols with family). So I think an au pair is probably the most realistic option for us.

What are the rules about how many hours per week au pairs can work? Do they have to be EU citizens/residents? How much do you need to pay to get a good one? If you live in a village rather than a town, do they expect to be provided with a car? Do they do any cleaning/ironing? Do they help with homework?

Answers to all of the above, plus any other tips, would be gratefully received. Thanks.

Anyone?!

Au pairs can perform whatever duties you and he/she agree in the contract. I treat mine (althought this has been a matter of debate on here) as an employee. So he/she gets a contract, an agreed weekly salary, stat holiday, sick pay, etc. housework is certainly fair game, but keep in mind that an au pair will not come with the expertise of a cleaner/maid. So you can ask him/her to do the ironing, but if you are. Horsey about your crisp white shirts you may find the quality of the job is not really what you are after.

Au au pair, like anyone else, is a person who will probably have some of the skills you are after but not all.

My au pair, for example is very nice, dedicated, gets on with the kids, but is frankly crap at cleaning up after herself. This is a source of dissatisfaction for me. But, she is good in other areas and overall I like her.

You are not legally restricted to a set number of hours if you hire an eu national, but do remember that typical au pair rates are tied to the hours -- usually about 25-30 per week. I'm not sure what the going rate is now... Probably about £70 per week.

Oh how I detest the Apple spell checker/corrector. I swear I typed "if you are choosey about your...".

Horsey????

Hire from within EEA. Very few have visa restrictions - Romania & Bulgaria are the tricky areas, they are limited to up to 5 hours per day for first year working in the UK, see BR3 form on Homeoffice.gov.uk

Hire from within EEA. Very few have visa restrictions - Romania & Bulgaria are the tricky areas, they are limited to up to 5 hours per day for first year working in the UK, see BR3 form on Homeoffice.gov.uk

home office guildlines for non EU au pairs (i kind of forgot that they still exist!)
www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/IDIs/idischapter4/section1/section1.pdf?view=Binary
www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/IDIs/idischapter4/section1/annexa.pdf?view=Binary

work permit for Romanian and Bulgarian Nationals
www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/applicationforms/bulgariaromania/guidanceforbulgariaromania0408

accession card for Romanian and Bulgarian Nationals www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/applicationforms/bulgariaromania/formbr3.pdf

Pay depends on where you live, and it works the opposite of nannies in that au pairs are paid more outside of London (simply because 90% of APs want to live there). Ranges from base line of £65 although most people I know pay around £75 fro 25 hours, £85-100 for up to 35 hours.

Pick EU only. Romania and Bulgaria have restrictions on hours (25 I think). Non EU a nightmare unless you are happy for them to work for the relatively short periods of time their visas allow. Commonwealth easier than non-Commonwealth.

If you live in the sticks then a car is expected (can be shared, but they need at least some freedom to use car when not working). Insuring AP to drive can be a nightmare and you may even have to switch insurers (esp if AP is under 23).

Mine is ironing as I type this and will soon be taking dog for walk before doing weekly shop and collecting kids from school and spending an hour on the trampoline with them. I find him twice as useful as my lazy-arsed husband very helpful round the house.

Definitely advise getting an EU au pair - English likely to be better and no visa restrictions. We pay ours £100/week, but she works 35+ hours (including cleaning and laundry) and has sole charge of DS and DD (7 and 5) after school and on holidays. She also gets use of car on weekends and evenings when we're not using it, and lives in en-suite bedsit above our garage.

Before choosing an au pair, consider things like how much time you want/expect her/him to spend with family when not working. We had one au pair who made lots of local friends and after the first couple of weekends we'd say goodbye on Friday and not see her again till Monday. With our current one, however, I get a little frustrated (and I feel very mean for typing this) and want to scream at her "get a life!" She's been with us since January and hasn't made many friends, though her predecessor put her in contact with all the friends she'd made, and I feel like we're expected to feed and entertain her on weekends. I work FT and on weekends I want time with my family to myself. As I said, I feel very mean about it (so please don't flame me!) but perhaps that's better saved for an AIBU post. In any event, before you make the decision to get an au pair, do consider its impact on your family life.

We had perfect Aupair-rarely saw her on weekends. She had friends and a life and enjoyed her space Aa much as we enjoyed ours!