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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

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Original poster

Live out Au Pair

24 replies

LondonSuperTrooper · 06/06/2014 10:31

I'm looking for an au pair who can join my family for September. I've posted an ad in Gumtree and have had some response. Most of the au pairs want to be a 'live out au pairs' as they have family nearby/ partners etc. This is fine with me.

I'm interviewing an au pair tonight but not sure how to ask her whether she is serious about this job & whether this is just a stop gap position until she finds a full time position (she's 34).

Also, does anyone have any experience with a live out au pairs? How do you work out the weekly pay? The one I'm seeing tonight has her car which will save me some money as I don't have to buy the car or pay for the insurance.

I've never had an au pair & this is my first au pair experience and I'd love some help :)

Thanks.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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eeyore12 · 06/06/2014 10:53

Don't forget if they are live out you need to pay them at least minium wage instead of 'pocket money' and if they use their own car then you will need to pay mileage which is up to 45p a mile if they use it to transport your children/do jobs for you.

Basically there is no such thing as a live out au pair as an au pair lives as part of the family which if they live out they ob don't. You are employing a live out nanny if they have sole charge of the children or a mothers help if you will be around and so you will need to register as an employer and include their tax and ni in the amount you offer them which you then need to deduct and pay to hrmc before giving them the net amount left.

Original poster

LondonSuperTrooper · 06/06/2014 11:06

Eeyore thanks for your reply. Becoming an employer sounds like a minefield! How can I calculate their pay? I've calculated the hours to be around 20 per week. I'm ashamed to say that I don't even know what the minimum wage is

OP posts:

Cindy34 · 06/06/2014 11:55

www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates it changes in October I think, will increase a bit. It depends on the persons age.

You can use a nanny payroll company to do the payroll calculations.

Live out au-pair is the same as a nanny so do everything as you would with a nanny.

To be an au-pair paid pocket money they need to be live-in.

eeyore12 · 06/06/2014 11:58

If you google min wage it will show you what the wage is for their age group, I think it is going up later this year so don't forget to take that into account.

Then if you use a site called mr. Anchovy tax calculator you can put in the amount of hours you need them for and the amount you are looking to pay either for them to take home or the full amount and it will then tell you how much employer ni you will need to pay on top of their gross wage and how much it will cost you in total monthly/yearly and you can adjust the figures to work out what you can afford to pay.

Also make sure you agree the gross amount with them like your employer does with you then any tax changes or if they get more work won't affect how much you end up paying out.

Good luck and hope it all works out for you.

Cindy34 · 06/06/2014 11:59

For car costs see the recent Nanny Employers thread. Simply you agree a mileage rate and pay them per mile driven. You need to keep a record of miles done and amount paid. Pay of up to 45p a mile is permitted without additional tax being payable. Keep in mind they will need to maintain their car to a good standard, have suitable insurance, plus pay for their car itself, so the mileage allowance is more than the fuel cost.

Youdontneedacriminallawyer · 06/06/2014 12:02

I would say that if they live out, then they aren't really au pairs.

For us, the beauty of having an au pair was that
a) the girl became part of our family, and was included in everything we did (if she wanted to be)
b) the au pair is there as an extra adult all the time, and able to cover emergencies at short notice
c) that the au pair is available for baby sitting, and late nights dont' matter because she could just go to bed

You wouldn't get any of that if your au pair lives out.

Original poster

LondonSuperTrooper · 06/06/2014 13:05

Wow, thanks for your replies!

I agree that a live out au pair is not the same as a live in au pair. We desperately need someone to help with the school runs and school picks up - childminders are very expensive!

We are lucky in that we have breakfast and afterschool clubs. My DH & I fear that doing this 5 days a week for our DS is unfair. Hence needing an aupair.

I think that I will carry on looking for a live in position - it's so much simpler!

Thanks for all of your help

OP posts:

Original poster

LondonSuperTrooper · 06/06/2014 13:11

eeyore I can't come to grips with the mr. Anchovy tax calculator :(

It gives me the gross pay and I have no idea how much I should set aside for tax & NI.

Min. wage is 6.31 and I need 20hrs of childcare = 126 gross per week

How can I work out the payment to the individual per week?

OP posts:

eeyore12 · 06/06/2014 13:22

Have just done it for you and £126 for 20 hours this tax year means they don't earn enough over a year to pay tax ni or you to pay employer ni, so they get all £126 a week to take home, you may find you don't need to register as an employer because of this but I would give the tax office a call to confirm that.

Do make sure you put in the contract that that is the gross amount (not net) so that if they do get other work, on which they will pay tax you don't end up having to pay out more.

eeyore12 · 06/06/2014 13:23

The reason it didn't show anything for the tax etc is because the yearly amount is under the 10000 tax allowance amount, if you put more in for the gross amount it will start showing amounts in the tax and ni boxes too.

Original poster

LondonSuperTrooper · 06/06/2014 13:33

eeyore thanks for the explanations & for carrying out these calculations for me.

I really appreciate your help

OP posts:

Cindy34 · 06/06/2014 14:46

Re do the calculations on 6.50 gross, as I think that is what minimum wage goes up to in October this year. It may or may not make a difference. Certainly if there is any employers NI payable it will be very low. How much the employee gets will vary depending on their taxcode. 1000L will give the 10,000 a year allowance if this is the persons only income. HMRC will tell you what code to use, it can change, thus agree the Gross salary figure.

lovelynannytobe · 06/06/2014 18:05

I have to say for that sort of number of hours you'll struggle to get somebody who will want to stay with you for long if you're going to pay close to NMW. I would suggest £10-£13 nett if you want them to hang around for longer than until something better comes along.

Original poster

LondonSuperTrooper · 07/06/2014 12:37

lovelynanny I know that & hence the reason for wanting an au pair. Problem is that people are replying to my advert & suggesting a live out au pair position..... Which many have correctly said is not really an au pair position :(

You are spot on, they want around £11/hr which is dearer than a childminders rate!

OP posts:

mikulkin · 07/06/2014 14:56

OP whereabouts do you live? I have a lovely au pair (been with us for 2 years - absolute delight) - she wants to stay in England and we don"t need her from September. We are in london though...

Original poster

LondonSuperTrooper · 07/06/2014 17:52

milk that'll be super! I'm in Surrey, near Epsom.
She must be able to drive though....

OP posts:

meadowquark · 07/06/2014 18:23

mikulkin I am looking too to start from September, I am in South London if your au-pair is interested...

blueshoes · 07/06/2014 19:30

Don't look on gumtree. You get aupairs who are already in UK and done the whole live-in thing, got a boyfriend in the UK who they want to live with and so looking for a live-out position but hoping for nanny wages, when they are still unqualified (no childcare qualifications) but have some childcare experience from aupairing.

Look for a traditional live-in aupair on ... www.aupair-world.co.uk. Most of them on that site will be live-in aupairs.

eeyore12 · 07/06/2014 19:56

Londonsupertrooper I too live near Epsom! Have you thought about school holiday cover, will you be needing full days of childcare in which case the yearly amount will go up or is it just term time care in which case the annual amount worked out about will be less (don't forget if term time will still need to pay a few weeks of the hols for their holiday allowance)

If you want to chat more then please feel free to message me through here or my work email [email protected]

mikulkin · 08/06/2014 00:19

London and meadow I will ask her tomorrow - she is a driver and a very good one, actually.

Original poster

LondonSuperTrooper · 08/06/2014 17:14

milk that will be fab, thank you.

blue thanks for the link. I'll check it out after tea.

eeyore thanks, I'll definitely drop you a line!

OP posts:

mikulkin · 11/06/2014 04:39

Hi, sorry, didn't come back to you earlier. Talked to her and she said she wants to try to find live out position first before considering live in one. Sorry...

Original poster

LondonSuperTrooper · 11/06/2014 09:25

OK, thanks for getting back to me.
Where will she be living? I am happy to try a live out position as long as her rates are reasonable................

OP posts:

mikulkin · 13/06/2014 04:35

Don't know yet, I said to her that she can stay in our place till November - free of charge but no pocket money obviously since no child care is required - she became like a family, so I don't mind, but I will be moving to smaller place from November so won't have extra room hence she has to move out then.

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