Aupair money

[TC13]

Hey Guys

Have a lovely Au pair she says she's happy with us etc.

However she keeps telling me how much more other au pairs are being paid (a lot more) a week and don't have to do as much so Beginning to think this is becoming a bit of a 'hinting process'

She works 27 hours a week in return we give her 85 pocket money. Unlimited travel. phone and we've paid for some of her schooling.

This is fair right? We are in London

Cheers

Maybe a bit low for London. My DB in London pays his au pair £120 per week and I think a bus pass as well but on the other hand they do expect 30-35 hours. I am in the Midlands and pay £100 but that is probably top end around here.

Sounds low to me too. DB and SIL pay theirs 140 for 30 hours, also London.

Is she looking at the full package? If you're including all travel and phone too....I don't think its that low, but London is expensive - maybe up to £100?

The travelcard costs me over 160 a month if I took that down to a bus pass i would make 80 saving and easily bump her pocket money over 100..

I think that those that are paying over 100 either only pay for a bus pass and/or no travel...so maybe she isn't considering full package and she'd prefer the cash and not the travel this would mean she's actually get paid less...

Do you think I should speak to her about reducing to bus pass and bumping up pocket money.

I'm a really generous person so was planning on doing bonuses anyway e.g increasing after 6 months and giving her a nice thank you token now and again ... etc

What about just giving some pre-pay on Oyster, then she can use bus or tube as needed?

I think it's low, most I know pay £120-£150 a week in London, 25hrs work, all travel and phone paid for also. Still 100% cheaper than an afternoon nanny for older children

If you're paying £160 a month for travel then that means you're probably zone 1 or 2, and £85 a week in central London is incredibly low. I used to work zone 2, single parent family, still had a full travelcard, phone paid and £110 (with extra paid for babysitting)

And to those who say £80 is enough and why should they pay more when general advice is to pay that much, keep in mind it has been the advised pocket money 10 years ago, when everything was a lot cheaper than now. Prices and normal pay has had a rise, but au pair wages stayed the same. No no, £80-£85 in Central London is not enough

Bare in mind a good au pair can easily find work nowadays, especially in London where after school care for x2 children is fairly expensive. So many people can easily move to another family with better pay/ accomadation etc. it might not be 'right' but it's done.

I would be tempted to sit her down and say you are looking to up her wage to £105 (£20 more), and will look at another raise in 3 months time ( to keep them staying longer if that's what you want).

An actual nanny part time in London now your looking at £12 net per hr (£14 gross approx). So 27hrs would be £378 a week, plus ni costs on top. So say £400. Hence if you can get an au pair for £150 it's a bargain

Remember au pairs are here to learn language and culture traditionally so want to be able to afford to explore England, visit many areas, learn English, and afford flights home. £85 would leave very little.

Normally £120 in London - oyster card instead of travel card and language lessons is normally provided and phone.

That's low for London, even with travel.

We live zone 4 thanks for the heads up guys :) will have a chat with her

We pay £90 for up to 25 hours.

Our au pairs friend is paid 135 for full on 35-40 hours a week. I'm not saying that's right but I do wonder if 'most' people are paying what has been quoted here. The rates people say they are paying on these threads are never what our au pairs friends are getting IME on Central London

We live in zone 5 - pay ours £120 for 30 hours with a phone but no travel. We reimburse her for travel she does with the children.

Had a good chat with her...went back and. Forth about the cost of things...she said she'd prefer a bus pass and 100 a week....
I tried to explain that she may end up spending more overall as her current package is worth more but she's adamant she's happy with this

Guess it's about packaging things the way they prefer as this is actually a saving for me?!

Thanks for all the advice!

Glad its worked out (and you've saved money!)

Wonder if she'll change her mind though?

"Guess it's about packaging things the way they prefer as this is actually a saving for me?!"

If this new package represents a saving for you, then perhaps you should increase the pocket money part of the package at least to a point where you don't save money by the change.

She's over the moon with new package...we've reduced hours slightly as well so it's win win all round :)

It's good to hear that you have reached a mutually agreeable solution.

I think this is one of the cases where mumsnet does not represent real life. To start with, au pairs are generally paid less in London. This is because most want to work in London, and a premium needs to be paid to live in less 'desirable' areas. The accommodation part of the package is also worth a lot more in London obviously!!

In terms of pay, I think a lot of people are quoting on the high side, and what you are offering sounds reasonable.

I have heard of a mumsnetter saying here that she was offering £90 a week for 35 hours and no perks, and couldn't understand why she didn't get good candidates.

i was aupair in London in 2008 and was paid £55 for 35 hrs a week.
if less than 35 hrs, less than £55.
No phones, no courses, no oyster.

Maybe that is why after I left, the family was still interviewing after 6 months....

Well, when you are the host family, think that this girl is someone's daughter and their mother expects you to treat her with respect as she cares for your LO well being. It could be £20 a week more but that can make a difference...

We are in London zone 4 . Including food and board, we pay £100 a week plus phone with unlimited calls (uk) and text, data allowance for 35 hours a week. We pay any travel with the kids. Never had any problems getting or retaining an au pair. We don't pay for gym, school lessons or anything extra. We do work hard to give our AuPairs a great experience learning English and exploring the UK and London. We treat them as a working foreign student in our home and on last count had over 300 applicants for our last role. We write a 6 months contract and expect them to be working towards intermediate English certification, if they need to stay a couple of months extra to reach the level we are flexible in that.

If you pay £112 per week or more, you have employer responsibilities which initially is registering with HMRC as an employer. £155 or more and National Insurance starts kicking in.

So whilst they may want to be paid more, there comes a point when it is no longer pocket money. There role changes from being au-pair to being a nanny.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-and-thresholds-for-employers-2015-to-2016

I pay £100 a week, 25 hours, no perks and I ask for Saturday night babysitting as standard plus cleaning for 4 hours a week. Our aupair has been with us 18 months so far and shows no sign of leaving and the previous one stayed for more than 2 years so guessing it's fair

The cleaning is included in the 25 hours, not on top I should add