Cost of using an au pair

[LittleNelle]

Would anyone mind telling me the total cost of their au pair?

Pocket money, extras/perks, food and bills?

There is a huge amount of variation between APs. I pay £85 per week for about 20hours. I top up their phone with £10 a monthly, they have the use of a car which I put one tank of petrol per month in ( any more they need to cover, they drive about 20miles a week for DD). They have double bedroom and all meals free wifi and Netflix.
Previous AP added about £60 per month to food and bills current AP adds about £100 per month to food and bills. Mainly as current AP appears to eat mainly protein we go through 28 slices of ham and 2lbs of cheese a week and 16 eggs. I may have 1 3 egg cheese omelet a week.

Oh forgot car in total it costs me £1.5K a year to run car.

Is it right you have to pay for them to eat out with you too though? It would all add up to quite a lot in the end

We don't eat out much as a family, but if we did and the au pair wanted to come with us I would expect to pay for her too (depends how much she likes softplay based pubs...)

£60-£100 a month in food and bills sounds ok.

I am happy to provide a contract phone rather than topping up au pair's phone.

I get them a giffgaf sim for their phone then if they are staying in the UK after they leave ( a lot do) they can keep the number and take over the payments.

Thanks, I hadn't thought of Giffgaff. What happens if they go over their minutes or data? Is there a way to cap it?

I pay for a fixed £10 package that provides more than enough texts and minutes for care of DD and beyond. I think unlimited texts, 200 minutes and 1gig of data if they exceed that it is their responsibility to top up. With contract you run the risk of very high international call charges etc.

So if they use up all the minutes/data they can't use anymore without topping it up rather than you being billed or it coming out of your bank account?

We start pay at £100, plus a tank of petrol for the car (plus insurance). We also provide a young person's railcard (£30 for a year), gym membership. I also pay the enrolment fee and the first month of English lessons - we insist that they attend English lessons as it helps them find friends quickly and also means their English improves more quickly.
We don't pay towards their phone.
Food bills have been around an extra £25-£35/week.

That's right Nellie so they can't run up a huge phone bill.

Brilliant thanks Lonecat

We're thinking of offering pocket money (between £75 and £100 a week I guess), leisure centre membership (£35 a month - includes swimming, gym, classes + swimming and softplay with a child), £10-£15 a month on a phone and a Young Person's Railcard (£30 for the year). Plus say an extra £100 a month on food/bills.

I estimate that as working out to a total of £135 a week on average.

I pay €150 a week and he pays all his personal costs himself (phone, public transport etc).

I have an open-drive policy on one car which works out a bit cheaper than having him as a named driver and paying an admin cost if we change au pair mid policy, but is more expensive than just having me and H on it, maybe an extra €200 a year. I fill the car tank when it needs it, so he doesn't pay for fuel and he is free to use it anytime it's not needed by H or me.

I have no idea how much difference it makes to the food bill but I always have sporty au pairs (to keep up with my high-energy DC) who burn a lot of calories and so eat quite a lot. I always choose unfussy eaters though, so they don't need to have special, expensive things bought for them. I make sure that there is plenty of cold meat, cheese, fruit and eggs so that anyone in the family can make themselves a snack or an easy lunch. If we go out to eat I always invite him, sometimes he comes and sometimes not depending on whether he is going out with friends later.

If he takes the DC somewhere (like swimming or a theme park) I pay for his costs like entry fee and lunch.

£90 per week including capped contract phone, wifi all food and a £20 kitty for kids outings and coffees. Also a Merlin pass as we go alot.
Extra food costs (agree we go through a huge amount of eggs and ham) £25 per week

£90 per week, £81 worth travel card per month. That's it. For my previous aupair I gave a phone with £5 giffgaff contract. The current one already had giffgaff and as calls to my giffgaff are free, I am not topping up.
Extra food.. I don't know how much but it is steaks, fish, ham every day. My kids and myself now eating much less of meat to keep my food budget in tact.
I do not pay for English classes (£90 per term 4 times a week).
OP if you listen to mumsnet you will find amazing aupair pay that no one in real life can afford to pay.

Wow it sounds so much cheaper than any other form of childcare. We don't have a house big enough or we would!

We pay £95 a week and nothing msg else. No phone, ours have always brought their own and I've pointed them towards cuff gaff sims. No English classes, none have ever been interested anyway. And no car costs as we are in London so public transport is great. Extra food costs are minimal as we don't eat much meat and we often over cater anyway. If we eat out can a family and they have no plans we would invite them and pay but that happens about 2x a year as they are busy with their own social lives.

We tend to use 25 hours a week plus two babysittings for the £95.

It's fab. All our au pairs have remained our friends and the kids have adored them all.

In 2009 I paid £80pw (Swedish - a bit more expensive)
They had a PAYG mobile for childcare related stuff and had to sort out their own phone/sim for everything else.
An Oyster with enough on for dd's accompaniment
One return flight pa
The required paid hol (think it was there weeks then)
One term of paid English classes if they did a good job
Double room and bath and all their food.

Oh yes we always pay holiday too. Usually 4 weeks holiday for each au pair (they start in Sept and leave in July).

Our food bills didn't go down when we no longer needed them. The DC had turned into teenagers!

It worked well for us. Ours did the laundry, looked after the dc from 3.30-6ish with one regular late night until 8.30/9. Made the DCs tea and sorted their activities. They also received and put away the Sainsburys order. Never asked to clean. If went for supper for the DCs birthdays they came and we would take them out for theirs but that was it.

We had four for a year each, sent a Cpl of disasters packing within a fortnight, always used a reputable agency and quickly found that the Swedish girls were worth a bit extra due to their excellent English and generally good cooking skills. Sweden is a generation or two behind the UK vis a vis fast food. Each girl brought a different strength to the table.

we have an au pair plus so he does 35 hours per week including light housework, school run, takes them to swimming classes, helps with homework etc. It really is a great help as I commute an hour into london every day. BUT you have to get used to having someone else in the house. Ours has a sort of studio room with his own fridge toaster kettle and hob (so at the weekend he can hide out - if he comes down the kids are all over him!!) but even so it is odd having someone else in the house. He keeps himself to himself and is out a lot. Our previous was a mother's help - had nannied in South Africa before. She was more involved in the family - the kids were younger and she was doing 40 hours a week including a full friday. She used to come to our parties, joined us for curry on the odd friday, and it felt totally natural. So it really depends on the person. Just a warning. It;s not for everyone and I am really considering whether I want an au pair next time or an after school nanny (I would SO miss having someone do all the little things that keeps us on top of the house - kids laundry and changing their bedsheets / towells etc).