Is this an OK job and pay for an au pair?

[Artichook]

We live in London, near several tube lines and in a nice neighbourhood so an area I imagine a foreign au pair may enjoy. The au pair will have a spacious attic room with a small en suite (bath, toilet and sink but no shower although the bath has a shower attachment). The room has broadband a freeview tv.

We have three children who will be 7, 5 and 8 months. The 7 and 5 year old will be at school and the 8 month old ill go to nursery. This is what we will be asking of the au pair:

Mon - Thurs
Make the older children's packed lunches.
Leave the house at 8.15am with the two older children, walk them both to school 15 minutes away.
While the children are at school prepare their dinner and tidy their room (less than an hours duty in total).
Walk and pick the two older children up at 3.30pm. On certain days deliver them to various clubs and wait for them, on other days take them home and play with them.
Give the two older children dinner at 5.30pm.
Await our return at 6.30pm.
IF either of the older the children are ill (but not ill enough to justify me having a day off) then stay at home with them.

One evening a week free babysitting. This is the only time the au pair would be in charge of the baby.

Fri-Sun
Free to travel etc. If au pair chooses to stay in London we may negotaite the babysitting night being at the weekend.

Pay
Room, unlimited broadband, tv, food from our kitchen.
£100 a week.
Pay as you go mobile with £5 a month to contact us.

What do people think? We have always had nannies before so I am unsure what is OK.

There would be no duties on school holidays except half term holidays when the au pair might have the older children all day for 2 or 3 days.

Looks fine to me. My summer au pair (not London, though) will be getting £70 and full board, and doing roughly 25 hours of help per week over 5 days.

I also ask my au pairs to push the hoover round the shared rooms (kitchen, sitting room, playroom) and sometimes tidy the children's rooms, but don't expect them ot do housework in areas of the house that they don't use. The agency I use also said that most au pairs expect to babysit up to 2 nights a week (how the famillies have enough energy for a social life that needs this, I have no idea!) but that they shouldn't be expected to babysit on one of their free days. I've never had a nanny, but I think that the au pair relationship is much more casual - I tend to think of them as being like a neice to me - I am responsible for their general wellbeing, but they should fit in with the family.

Just a thought, though - if they have no duties in the school holidays, what are they going to do? Will they still get their weekly allowance?

to and niece (sorry, should have proof read!)

Although your Au Pairs job description and pay sound good, Au Pairs are not normally allowed to be in sole charge of children under two.

The BAPAA Website

The UK gov website which gives a definition of an Au Pair

It's a bit tricky for you as most of the job is classic Au Pair work (exempt from minimum wage) but some of it would be more suitable for a properly qualified 'nanny'

Oooops, I read the OP wrong. I see that the Au Pair would only be in sole charge of the baby one evening a week.

I don't know if that is ok or not?

I think that their free days should be just that, and the bit where you say if she chooses to stay in London on her free days, that you may negotiate babysitting then, is not fair, unless she agrees with it.

Also the guidelines say that she is not permitted to have sole care of children under the age of two, so that would scupper your babysitting plans if you left the 8 month old in her care.

You might find this www.bapaa.org.uk/displaypage.asp?page=41
interesting to read, from the British Au Pairs Agency

Good luck with it all.

Thanks all.

Surely babysitting an under 2 is OK. I mean a 14 year old is legally allowed to babysit. Babysitting is post bedtime care. Is that really likely to be a problem?

The guidelines are just that, guidelines. It is ultimately up to you to agree what you like with the aupair.

If the aupair is just there after you have put the baby to bed, then it is whether you feel the aupair is able to handle it if the baby wakes up or, god forbid, there is an accident. You would need to consider her age, her level of English and first aid and ability to call you/emergency services in a crisis. What opportunity do you have to watch her with the baby and for her to shadow you in looking after the baby?

I had my German aupair do wraparound care for ds when he was one year old. Basically one hour before and after ds went to nursery. She was excellent and having observed her, I would trust her to babysit. But I would not trust aupairs with babies otherwise.

I don't know if it is ok or not.

The BAPAA (which is referred to in the UK Gov guidelines) states that Au Pairs should not be in sole charge of children under 2 but I don't know if this is a legal requirement. I know that if you want to avoid minimum pay requirement then your Au Pair needs to fall under the definition given in the UK Gov site.

My untrained 17 year old babysits for a child under two but she is paid £6 an hour (ie above minimum wage)

The BAPAA is NOT the law. It is just a trade association for the British Au Pair Industry.

Both tasks and pay sound reasonable. You can ask au pair to babysit during weekend. Up to 2 evenings per week babysitting is acceptable. She should get full 2 days off, but since you are giving her 3 days off every week babysitting one of these evenings is absolutely fine. I would put it as requirement and then she would have nice surprise if you don't need her.

I know that the BAPAA is a registered trade association.

What I didn't know was whether or not it was a legal requirement that proper Au Pairs are allowed to look after children aged under two years old. I get the impression it is quite common practise as it saves parents a lot of money in childcare costs. £2 or £3 an hour for looking after little kids is very cheap even if it is by someone who is untrained.

I would rather pay a creche or a nanny to look after a baby, just as the OP has done previously and has arranged to do when she gets an Au Pair.

It is not a legal requirement that proper Au Pairs are allowed to look after children aged under two years old. Whether you would want to do that is another thing but it is not The Law.

Even if the UK Gov guidelines refers to the BAPAA guidelines (and I am just going by what you say), that does not make the BAPAA guidelines the law. It would be in breach of constitutional law to have a trade association, rather than a legislative body, make law. In fact, the UK government is not even entitled to make law - they just enforce it. It is Parliament (House of Commons/House of Lords) that makes laws in the UK.

Lol, got all that.