Au pair hours and babysitting, how does it work

[fromheretomaternity]

We're looking for an au pair for the first time. We're likely to need about 27-30 hours a week for before & after school childcare, till around 7pm. I've heard people say that 2 evenings babysitting are generally included / expected. How does this work? Are 'babysits' only when the children are in bed i.e. if we stayed out for the evening, we'd have to pay overtime from her usual end time of 7pm to the kids' bedtime at 8pm?

Babysits are from the time she would normally finish work until you get home.

I have one babysit included in my contract which is from the time I finish work (7pm) until 11pm. Any time after 11 is paid. I don't know if this is normal but I think it's a respectful thing to do. I don't sleep properly until I know the parents are home so this compensates for that as well as making sure the parents let me know if they're going to be home late.

Ok thanks. So if I advertise '30 hours and 2 evenings babysit' then effectively I'd be getting 30 hours + up to 4 hours twice a week = 38 hours? Is that standard for an au pair?

Standard au pair hours are 25, I think au pair plus is 35 so you probably need to pay a little more. We had au pairs for years and they had 2 nights babysitting in their contract, it was unusual for us to use both every week but when we did there was no time limit on it. We were happy for our au pair to go to bed and not wait up for us.

That's quite a lot. But APs and AP t&cs vary much more than some would have you believe. The only really important thing is to make sure you are totally upfront about your expectations, and that you pay a fair amount for whatever you want.

Babysits are from the time she would normally finish work until you get home.

I have one babysit included in my contract which is from the time I finish work (7pm) until 11pm. Any time after 11 is paid. I don't know if this is normal but I think it's a respectful thing to do. I don't sleep properly until I know the parents are home so this compensates for that as well as making sure the parents let me know if they're going to be home late.

Ok - would 1 babysit is more reasonable + pay overtime for anything else? We were thinking of paying £120 pw (London).

@from you can easily ask for 2 babysittings a week, but you don't always use it. Say you need the ap to babysit until 11-12 pm, she'll probably go to sleep before you come back so babysitting is usually the ap watching telly/skyping/texting whatever. We also let her have a friend over if she's babysitting on a Friday or Saturday - they usually watch movies while the kids sleep.

£120 is AP plus rate in London, so your standard 30 hours and two babysits are fine. If you are particularly late then I would pay extra.

I just run a very flexible system with mine - I say 2 x babysits in the contract, but often we don't use them, and then sometimes we will have a few shorter ones at once, or the occasional daytime weekend - its all give and take.

2 babysits in the contract is very normal and usual. Although I don't tend to ask mine to babysit both Friday and Saturday night - I either pay extra or use sitters. £120/week is very generous.