Au Pair duties - expections

[marigio]

I have a live out nanny who does 10 hours a day at the moment and she also does all the housework and pretty much anything we tell her to. Lovely attitude and good with the children. From Sept both my DCs will be going to school from 8-3 so we would only need someone to pick them up after school and look after them until around 8pm. I want to consider the au pair option due to the big difference in cost and the reduced number of hours required. But after reading some of the posts here I am a bit nervous and am worried about expecations mismatch.

I am planning to hire a cleaner as well but would need the AP to do some housework (e.g. washing up after dinner, light cleaning during the week in between days when cleaner comes in, laundry/ironing).

Some of the posts seem to suggest au pairs are not expected to be "employees" but more like part of the family so even if the duties are stated in the contract we can't expect the same level of "service" as a nanny. Like cleaning toilets or washing up after every meal would be inappropriate?

Would appreciate some advice please!

Sorry just noticed all the typos. Expectations I meant

If it's sole charge 5 days a week 3pm-8pm I would say that's above & beyond au pair unless you find someone more experienced/older who understands the role & you pay accordingly.

Generally au pair do 25 hours a week. So yes, you can't expect an au pair to do cleaning and the childcare too. They would wash up after the children's tea, but no do extra cleaning during that time.

You also need to think about homework - most au pairs (though not all) have English as a second language, so may not be the best people to do homework with infant school children. (although you may be able to do reading books etc with them in the morning).

You may be better with a live out nanny/housekeeper who could do 12/1-8 everyday and do all household chores before the children came home. That adds up to 35-40 hours a week anyway.

Most au pairs I know would expect to either be babysitting the children or doing a little light housework while children are elsewhere. 5 hours a day sole charge is not really a normal AP role, more of a PT nanny or nanny/housekeeper. Also remember that the journey time to school to do pick up also needs to be included.

25 hrs a week, which is 5 hrs per day, totally usual au pair hours. Sole charge after school is fine. Might not be the same standard of professionalism and consistency as a nanny - probably wont be, but then you aren't paying nanny rates. There is also a big cost to your personal life in my experience. Ours don't have housekeeping duties but tidy up after the means etc. and do the children's laundry.

What about school holidays? Or if the children are ill and kept home from school?

We have parents (live close by) help most evenings from around 5:30/6pm to cook dinner and supervise, etc. So the AP should be able to have time to do some housework. Parents will also help out during school holiday, sickness or we can use school holiday clubs, emergency nannies or take time off. So I think it should be fine in terms of coverage.

Does journey from home to school count as well? I have seen different comments before. That would add another 30 mins. What is the max hours they do? A friend told me she pays £80/week for 35 hours a week, in East London. It sounds a bit cheap actually.

We pay 80 for 25 hrs.

I seem to have lost a post. Yes the hour allocation includes the walk home from school. The holiday time she covers is paid as extra as is any other overtime.