Will my au pair need to open UK bank account?

[Brawhen]

I'd prefer to pay by standing order direct to her account - will she have to open a UK account (and is this easy?). Or is it realistic to use whatever account she already has (Polish)

Can you tell I'm an au pair newbie...?!

Best not use her Polish account as banks can charge a hefty commission if she withdraws cash from it here. Also when they convert the currency she will lose out.
Either open her a new account here (shouldn't be a problem at all) or just give her cash.

We encouraged our au pair to open an account when she coughed to keeping £2000 cash under her bed!

Thanks - anyone any experience of how to do this? Can I write a letter that will serve as her proof of address?

Does an au pair need to apply for a NI number?

Is there some website that tells me all this somewhere??

Thanks!

It depends how long she us expecting to stay with you. In the UK we have strict Anti Money Laundering legislation which means to open an account she will need to go through an identification process, she should be OK with a Passport and proof of address which is a letter from you as her employer. You will also need to assist her find the right bank that offers free banking with no minimum amount being deposited or held. I think Barclays do a good student type of account but you would need to check that out. We have done this for Ap's before who intend to stay in the UK long term but we don't do this for short term AP's partly because I do not want lots of bank accounts registered to my house address

Jules - thanks. I hadn't actually considered the downsides of having accounts registered to our house address that may then not be brilliantly managed...

You cannot use the Polish account.

I'll echo what Jules says - the letter from you confirming she will be living at your address is key; we have found it helps if you use your own bank as they already know who you are (we moved to First Direct years ago but have kept another account alive at a 'real' bank which is useful for this sort of thing).

Having other accounts registered to my address is not a concern to me; credit references are based on surname and address so it should not affect you, and she is likely to be given a 'basic' bank account with just a cash card and no overdraft anyway.

She will only need an NI number if she is going to take a part-time job or earn more than £107pw.