What's the going rate for au pairs (in London)

[SwedishMumInLondon]

We're thinking about getting an au pair when I go back to work early next year and are trying to work out if it will be cost effective. How much do you pay your au pair and what are her responsibilities and hours?
Thanks all

It's generally around £75 for 25 hours over 5 days, before and after school care, very simple cooking and a bit of light housework (tidying, washing up, kids' laundry, sweeping daily/hoovering a couple of times a week).

However you will find au pairs willing to do more for a bit more money. What can you afford, bearing in mind there are extra costs for electricity, food and car insurance if you need a driver/travel pass if you don't? What hours would you want and what duties would you like?

Thanks. I was thinking around 25 hours a week but split over three days plus some babysitting in the evenings every now and then. Duties would include dropping off and picking up DD1 (7) from school three days a week plus sole care of DS1(1) three days a week. With this in mind I would obv need someone with some experience already and would expect to pay a bit more than £75 a week. I was thinking around £100 a week - does that sound reasonable?

An au pair isn't really suitable for extended sole charge of a 1 up and it really wouldn't be expected. You need a nanny for that and it will cost probably £150 min which puts you into the realm of tax and NI.

I would also be extremely hesitant to use someone with an imperfect command of English (bearing in mind that most APs are only around intermediate level) to care for a young child for so long for developmental reasons. It also doesn't leave much latitude for the au pair to take English lessons and that's the primary reason they're here.

You may find someone to do it but it's not really an au pair job, so you're not looking at au pair candidates or au pair pay. With the extra costs of having someone live with you a CM is more likely to be cost effective.

I was thinking of getting a Swedish au pair so language wouldn't be an issue (my DCs are bilingual). I wouldn't expect her to do more than 25 hours a week so plenty of time for studies. Plus my DH often works from home so she wouldn't be entirely on her own. We can't afford a nanny unfortunately and it's practically impossible to find a CM or get a nursery place where we live

Most language courses are at least twice weekly. Would the 25 hours be able to flex around that? 25 hours could easily be 3 full days 9-5 (or 8.30-4.30) which doesn't necessarily fit with the classes offered by your local college. You'd need to investigate that with them though.

Good that the language isn't an issue from a developmental perspective but what about dealing with emergency services etc? A 1 year old can't effectively communicate what's wrong so it would be down to the AP.

What about the other aspects of childcare? Are you comfortable with having someone with minimal experience, who probably hasn't been in charge of children for an extended period of time before and may never have dealt with tantrums or potty training for example? Try to think ahead to the issues you'll encounter in the next year and think about whether an au pair would be able to deal with them. My guess is you'll want someone fairly experienced and that does come with an increased price tag. Au pairs in the classic sense, and under the au pair scheme which no longer exists, weren't supposed to have extended sole charge of preschool children and in most countries that still isn't permitted because they aren't trained, experienced childcarers and shouldn't be used as a cheap substitute carer. If that is what you want then you need to make it very clear to them what you need.

Positions like this are where the line between au pair and live in nanny blurs. Often it mistakenly comes down to nationality but really it's about the responsibility. You could recruit a Swedish candidate who is happy with what you're offering but labelling them as an au pair would really be accurate IYSWIM.

I feel £100 is still on the low side for 3 full days of sole charge of a 1yo. You don't have to deduct tax until £144/week if that helps?

Yes I think you're probably right about £100 not being enough... Again, language should be ok as most swedes speak ok English. Swedish au pairs tend to come to England to improve their English, not to learn from scratch. Thanks for all your input!

I would say if you do then pay a little more and add travel pass/ gym membership/ all language lessons paid for. Plus extra for babysitting. It's a really fine line as mentioned above.

I would suggest an experienced Swedish candidate for 135-140/week, make the cleaning duties practically non-existent so she can focus on your 1-year-old and provide a mobile phone with a certain amount of credit plus a travelcard. That would be worth it in my eyes, having worked in London childcare for several years.